Aromatic amino acids and their derivatives as ligands for the isolation of aspartic proteinases

Affinity chromatography was used to study an interaction of aspartic proteinases with immobilized aromatic amino acids and their derivatives. The following ligands were used: L-tyrosine, 3-iodo-L-tyrosine, 3,5-diiodo-L-tyrosine, L-phenylalanine, p-iodo-L-phenylalanine and N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine. With the exception of the last one, ligands were coupled directly to divinyl sulfone activated Sepharose 4B. For the preparation of immobilized N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine, divinyl sulfone activated Sepharose 4-B with linked ethylene diamine was used. Porcine pepsin was used for the evaluation of the capacity of the prepared affinity carriers. The capacity of the immobilized amino acid derivatives significantly increased in comparison with the non-derivatized amino acids. The prepared immobilized ligands were further used for the separation of human pepsinogens.