Bovine-serum albumin, known to have antipodal specificity in the binding of tryptophan, was selected as the affinity chromatographic matrix for the attempted chromatographic resolution of DL-tryptophan. Complete resolution was accomplished when DL-tryptophan was chromatographed on bovine-serum albuminsuccinoylaminoethyl-Sepharose.Resolution of optical isomers by conventional methods is frequently laborious and incomplete. The mechanical and chemical methods are empirical in nature, and in practice choosing the appropriate resolving agents and physical means of separation can be difficult. Resolutions based on highly specific biological properties have been limited to enzyme reactions, and these reactions always resulted in chemical modification of one of the isomers. Differential binding of some optical isomers by a few serum proteins has been reported. Examples include binding of DI-tryptophan to bovine-serum albumin (1) and dl-aldosterone to corticosteroid-binding globulin (2). It would seem that this property of steroselective binding of optical isomers by proteins could be used for resolution of some optical isomers. We have begun studies to investigate this possibility and report here the resolution of DL-tryptophan on affinity columns of bovine-serum albumin-succinoylaminoethyl-agarose. (5), in which dipeptides are formed by reaction of the tryptophan with -glutamic acid N-carboxyanhydride, the -glutamyl-D-tryptophan is separated from the L-glutamyl-L-tryptophan by ion-exchange chromatography, and each diastereomer is quantitated. LTryptophan content was determined by the method of Guilbault and Hieserman (6) with -amino-acid oxidase, and an Aminco fluoromicrophotometer with a CS 7-60 primary filter and a 47B, 2A combination secondary filter.The substituted agarose supports were prepared according to Cuatrecasas (7) with cyanogen bromide. The extent of coupling was determined from amino-acid analyses of hydrolysates of the support material, and coupling efficiencies of 5-6% were normally obtained. Chromatographic columns were packed with either bovine-serum albumin linked directly to the agarose beads (bovine-serum albumin-agarose), bovineserum albumin linked to the agarose beads by an ethylenediamine-succinic acid leash (bovine-serum albumin-succinoylaminoethyl-agarose), or defatted bovine-serum albumin linked to the agarose beads by the same leash (defatted bovine-serum albumin-succinoylaminoethyl-agarose). Control columns were packed with agarose or leashed agarose (no bovine-serum albumin) as appropriate.
RESULTSPreliminary experiments in which bovine-serum albuminagarose columns were used for chromatography of DLtryptophan indicated that there was some resolution of the DI,-tryptophan on these columns. However, these columns did not give reproducible results, due to the fact that the column material seemed to be altered during regeneration. In contrast, chromatography of DL-tryptophan on either of the two leashed column materials was reproducible, and hence these column materials were used in...