Highly stabilized, polymer–lipid membranes prepared on silica microparticles as stationary phases for capillary chromatography

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A 2015-03, Vol.1385, p.28-34
• Main Authors: Gallagher, Elyssia S., Adem, Seid M., Baker, Christopher A., Ratnayaka, Saliya N., Jones, Ian W., Hall, Henry K., Saavedra, S. Scott, Aspinwall, Craig A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Membrane; Phospholipid; Polymer; Stationary phase
• ISSN: 0021-9673; 1873-3778
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2015.01.052

•Polymerized phospholipid bilayer chromatographic stationary phases were characterized.•Poly(lipid) stationary phases exhibit high chemical and mechanical stability.•Frontal chromatography shows lipophilic retention of model analytes. The ability to rapidly screen complex libraries of pharmacological modulators is paramount to modern drug discovery efforts. This task is particularly challenging for agents that interact with lipid bilayers or membrane proteins due to the limited chemical, physical, and temporal stability of conventional lipid-based chromatographic stationary phases. Here, we describe the preparation and characterization of a novel stationary phase material composed of highly stable, polymeric-phospholipid bilayers self-assembled onto silica microparticles. Polymer–lipid membranes were prepared by photochemical or redox initiated polymerization of 1,2-bis[10-(2′,4′-hexadieoyloxy)decanoyl]-sn-glycero-2-phosphocholine (bis-SorbPC), a synthetic, polymerizable lipid. The resulting polymerized bis-SorbPC (poly(bis-SorbPC)) stationary phases exhibited enhanced stability compared to particles coated with 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-phosphocholine (unpolymerized) phospholipid bilayers when exposed to chemical (50mM triton X-100 or 50% acetonitrile) and physical (15min sonication) insults after 30 days of storage. Further, poly(bis-SorbPC)-coated particles survived slurry packing into fused silica capillaries, compared to unpolymerized lipid membranes, where the lipid bilayer was destroyed during packing. Frontal chromatographic analyses of the lipophilic small molecules acetylsalicylic acid, benzoic acid, and salicylic acid showed >44% increase in retention times (P