Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
Nat Chem. 2015 May;7(5):447-54. doi: 10.1038/nchem.2203. Epub 2015 Mar 23.
The efficient extraction of (bio)molecules from fluid mixtures is vital for applications ranging from target characterization in (bio)chemistry to environmental analysis and biomedical diagnostics. Inspired by biological processes that seamlessly synchronize the capture, transport and release of biomolecules, we designed a robust chemomechanical sorting system capable of the concerted catch and release of target biomolecules from a solution mixture. The hybrid system is composed of target-specific, reversible binding sites attached to microscopic fins embedded in a responsive hydrogel that moves the cargo between two chemically distinct environments. To demonstrate the utility of the system, we focus on the effective separation of thrombin by synchronizing the pH-dependent binding strength of a thrombin-specific aptamer with volume changes of the pH-responsive hydrogel in a biphasic microfluidic regime, and show a non-destructive separation that has a quantitative sorting efficiency, as well as the system's stability and amenability to multiple solution recycling.
从流体混合物中高效提取（生物）分子对于从（生物）化学中的目标特征描述到环境分析和生物医学诊断等应用至关重要。受生物过程的启发，这些过程无缝地协调了生物分子的捕获、传输和释放，我们设计了一种稳健的化学机械分拣系统，能够协同地从溶液混合物中捕获和释放目标生物分子。该混合系统由附着在微观鳍片上的目标特异性、可逆结合位点组成，这些鳍片嵌入在响应性水凝胶中，可在两个化学性质不同的环境之间移动货物。为了展示该系统的实用性，我们专注于通过将凝血酶特异性适体的 pH 依赖性结合强度与 pH 响应水凝胶的体积变化在双相微流控状态下同步，来有效地分离凝血酶，并展示了一种非破坏性的分离方法，具有定量分拣效率，以及系统的稳定性和对多次溶液回收的适应性。
