Characterization of biomimetic chromatography columns based on plasma proteins through the Abraham solvation parameter model

Abstract

Biomimetic chromatography is a valuable tool for studying drug interactions by mimicking biological environments. In this work, two liquid chromatography systems with stationary phases based on plasma proteins, human serum albumin (HSA) and α₁-acid glycoprotein (AGP), will be evaluated regarding the interactions that these stationary phases establish with neutral and ionized compounds. The Abraham solvation parameter model has been used to characterize the chromatographic systems. The models obtained demonstrate that both columns present almost identical selectivity for neutral compounds, with very similar retention mechanisms. The volume of the compounds increases the retention, whereas a high hydrogen bond basicity reduces it. Contrarily, the columns show different selectivity for ionic compounds, especially for anions, which are specifically retained in the HSA column, whereas no or low retention is observed in the AGP column. When the obtained models are compared to the models corresponding to other biomimetic chromatography systems, it has been observed that, despite the nature of the stationary phase, all them provide similar selectivity for neutral compounds. In concrete, the two evaluated systems present great similarity to other systems based on liquid chromatography or electrokinetic chromatography that use phosphatidylcholine as stationary phase.