Photocontrol of affinity chromatography. I. Trypsin purification by photosensitive soybean trypsin inhibitor (STI) gel

Soybean trypsin inhibitor (STI) was immobilized on the agarose gel modified with spiropyran compound (spiropyran gel), and photocontrolled binding and releasing of trypsin was examined. The STI-spiropyran gel showed reverse photochromism. Trypsin was bound on the STI-spiropyran gel in the dark and released with visible light irradiation. The optimum conditions for photocontrolled binding and releasing of trypsin were pH 6.6 and the buffer concentration of 0.05 m. Approximately 60–80% of bound trypsin was released with visible light irradiation. The activity of released trypsin was the same as that of native trypsin. Approximately 21-fold purification of trypsin was performed with the STI-spiropyran gel column.