Comparison of chromatographic ion-exchange resins: I. Strong anion-exchange resins

A comparative study has been undertaken on various strong anion-exchangers to investigate the pH dependence, titration curves, efficiency, binding strength, and dynamic capacity of the chromatographic resins. The resins tested included: Macro-Prep 25Q, TSK-Gel Q-5PW-HR, Poros QE/M, Q Sepharose FF, Q HyperD 20, Q Zirconia, Source 30Q, Fractogel EMD TMAE 650s, and Express-Ion Q. Testing was performed with five different proteins: Anti-FVII Mab (IgG), aprotinin, BSA, lipolase, and myoglobin. The dependence of pH on retention varies from generally low to very high for proteins with low pI. No direct link between pH dependence on retention and titration curves of the different resins was observed. Efficiency results show the expected trend of lower dependence of the plate height with increasing flow-rate of resins for medium and high pressure operation compared to the soft resins. Binding to the anion-exchange resins as a function of ionic strength may vary depending on the specific protein. Generally, binding and elution at a high salt concentration may be performed with Poros QE/M or Macro-Prep 25Q, while binding and elution at low salt concentration may be done with TSK-Gel Q-5PW. Dynamic capacities are strongly dependent on the specific protein employed and for some resins dependent on the flow-rate. A general good agreement was obtained between this study and data obtained by suppliers for the dynamic capacity. The results of this study may be used for selection of resins for testing in process development, however, the data does not tell anything about specific selectivity differences or resolution between a target protein and a given impurity. None of the resins studied here should be regarded as good or bad, but more or less suitable for a specific purpose, and only testing for the specific application will determine which one is the optimal resin.