Application of ionic liquid based two-aqueous phase systems in liquid-liquid chromatography

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Mirjana Minceva
• Subject Area: Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering
• Term: from 2012 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 210101427

Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is a powerful and versatile liquid-liquid separation technique, which shares the principle of extraction and chromatography. In CPC a multicomponent separation is realized owing to the solutes different partitioning between two liquid phases, whereas one of the phases is kept stationary by means of centrifugal force. Currently, the application of the technology in the field of biocomponents (e.g. proteins, nucleic acids, cells) is impeded due to the incompatibility the conventional polymer/polymer or polymer/salt aqueous two-phase systems due to their physical properties(high phase viscosity and low interfacial tension). In this project we want to study the applicability of a new recently introduced type of aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS), formed by the combination ofa hydrophilic ionic liquid, an inorganic salt and water. The first evaluation of ionic-liquid based ATPSs, has shown that the phase splitting occurs faster than in polymer based ATPS. Furthermore the IL-rich phase has a lower viscosity than the polymer-rich phase. Moreover the main features of the ionic liquid, i.e. versatility of anion and cation combinations, can be used to tune the partition coefficient of the proteins in the mixture as well as the physical properties of the biphasic system. To prove the whole concept, separations of model mixtures which contain proteins using ionic-liquid based ATPSs will be carried out in a preparative Centrifugal Partition Chromatographic unit.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants