Pseudo-mercaptoethyl pyridine functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-graphene composite via thiol-ene click reaction for highly selective purification of antibody

In this work, we prepared a novel graphene-based composite by combination of mercapto-end capped polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS-SH) with graphene oxide (GO) through covalent bonding process. The composite was further conjugated with 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) through thiol-ene click reaction to fabricate pseudo-mercaptoethyl pyridine functionalized POSS-graphene composite (G-POSS-S-VP). The physicochemical properties were confirmed via FT-IR, TGA, XPS, and TEM characterizations and a high ligand density of ca. 87.3 μmol m-2 was obtained. G-POSS-S-VP composite displayed high selectivity toward antibody, i.e., immunoglobulin G (IgG) in this case based on the hydrophobic charge induced chromatography (HCIC) mechanism. A high adsorption efficiency of ca. 90% and large adsorption capacity of 500 mg g-1 were achieved for IgG at pH 7.4. At the same time, the non-specific adsorptions of co-existing proteins on graphene substrate were obviously hindered. The practical applicability of G-POSS-S-VP composite as adsorbent was verified by selective separation of IgG from human serum. SDS-PAGE assay and MALDI-TOF-MS analysis clearly demonstrated the successful isolation of IgG with high purity.