instrAction develops and manufactures stationary phases based on the instrAction® technology (instrAction® phases). The interaction with the target molecule - small molecules or proteins - is non-covalent, selective and reversible.
The principles of molecular interactions between the instrAction® stationary phases and the target molecules have been examined closely. The innovative instrAction gels are designed by modification of the surface of a variety of support materials e.g. spherical porous particles which are suitable for chromatographic applications. The extraordinary high selectivity of the instrAction® phases is reached by immobilization of multiple functional ligands on a hydrophilic cross-linked polymeric net that is fixed at the surface of the support material. The selective binding of target molecules at the "instructed" surface is reached by multivalent multimodal interactions of complementary structures of the target molecule and the functional ligands of the phase.
The strength of the instrAction® technology becomes obvious when purifying and separating target substances from complex mixtures in just one to two steps (complex syntheses, fermentation broths, plant extracts).
Technology in Detail
Porous particles – silica, polymer, etc. - like they are normally used for chromatographic phases build the solid support. This support is covered by a polymeric net that is highly cross-linked. The functional ligands will be coupled at this polymer surface. A combination of different binding site residues is possible. The results are highly selective robust chromatographic phases.
The instrAction® technology allows to control the ligand density and therefore the selectivity to the target molecule. Conventional chromatographic methods use the different distribution of the target substance and the side products between the mobile and the stationary phase for separation. Only one or two kinds of interactions are important for this kind of conventional separations. Using instrAction® phases the separation is of a multimodal kind. The choice of ligands can involve several kinds of non-covalent interactions like ionic, lipophilic, hydrogen-hydrogen and Π-Π.
The binding constants that can be reached are bigger than the ones measured with conventional chromatographic phases. This offers new solutions for API-polishing and for downstream processes. Only small differences in the molecular structures between target molecule and side product can show totally different binding constants. The instrAction® technology enables us to design and develop API-selective phases.
