Composite fluoropolymer-containing sorbents for isolation and purificationof biopolymers

Composite fluoropolymer-containing sorbents based on porous silicas were sy nthesized for the isolation and purification of biopolymers under nondenatu ring conditions. Examples of the application of these sorbents in the separ ation of various mixtures of peptides and proteins and purification of nucl eic acids from various sources (plasmid DNA and DNA from nucleated human bl ood cells) using the cartridge, column, and batch (sorption in a stirred vo lume) methods are presented. It was shown that the sorbents can be used in laboratory practice because they are selective to nucleic acids (DNA and RN A) and proteins. These materials combine the mechanical properties of the i norganic matrix with the specific sorption properties of the polymer phase and exhibit enhanced stability to alkaline hydrolysis. Alternative methods of preparing sorbents containing polytetrafluoroethylene, polytrifluorostyr ene, and polyfluorobutadiene are described. By the example of polyfluorobut adiene-containing sorbents, a completely new method for obtaining fluorinat ed polymer phases was developed: the polymer phase was preliminarily formed on the surface of porous disperse carriers and was fluorinated with xenon difluoride.