The present invention relates to chromatography beads, production and use thereof. More closely the invention relates to small, rigid and nan-permeable agarose beads suitable for example as stationary phase in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for analyses of biomolecules, such as, peptides and proteins; and methods for producing such beads.

A composite of polyurethane foam grafted with carbon nanofibers is described. This composite foam may be made by contacting and drying a polyurethane foam with a suspension of carbon nanofibers and then drying. Additional carbon nanofiber layers may be added with repeated contacting. The composite film has a high surface area of 276 m.sup.2/g and a hydrophobic character that may be exploited for separating an oil phase from water.

A method for preparation of a separation matrix, comprising the steps of: a) providing a solid support and an alkali-stable ligand derived from an immunoglobulin-binding bacterial protein; b) reacting said alkali-stable ligand with said solid support to form a separation matrix having covalently coupled alkali-stable ligands; and c) washing said separation matrix having covalently coupled alkali-stable ligands with a wash solution comprising at least 10 mM of an alkali metal hydroxide.

Provided is a stationary phase for supercritical fluid chromatography that includes a carrier on which is supported a polymer that includes a pyrrolidone backbone in the repeating units of the main chain.

In one embodiment, the invention relates to a carbon-based boron removal medium with hydroxyl groups and amine group, and in particular, to a method for forming the carbon-based boron removal medium. In a specific embodiment, nitrogen-doped (“N-doped”) graphene oxide is synthesized by a simple two-step process: (1) oxidation of graphite to graphene oxide, and (2) nitrogen-doping (“N-doping”) the graphene oxide to form the amine group. The resultant N-doped graphene oxide can efficiently remove boron from aqueous solutions. In another embodiment, a method of sensing or detecting the presence of boron in an aqueous solution by using a boron sensing medium comprises at least two hydroxyl groups and at least one pyridinic nitrogen or pyrrolic nitrogen or quaternary nitrogen (i.e. pyridoxine, in particular vitamin B6). The boron ions in the solution would form a highly ionized complex, which can cause significant increase in electrical conductivity of the solution, which can then be used to measure the concentration of boron in said solution.

Activated carbon, e.g., from waste tires, modified by bimetallic Fe and Ce nanoparticles can provide high surface area and active sites for enhanced dye adsorption. Such nanocomposites can offer magnetic removal from aqueous solutions containing, e.g., Methylene Blue or Rhodamine B. Adsorption equilibrium data fit well to the Langmuir isotherm model, with an adsorption capacity was 324.6 mg/g. Rhodamine B adsorption by such activated carbon-Fe—Ce magnetic adsorbents has an endothermic character and pseudo-second-order kinetics. In ethanol solution, rhodamine B was desorbed at high efficiency and such materials, which could be recycled up to 5 cycles. Such magnetic nanocomposites are adsorbents for treating dyes such as rhodamine B in wastewater, even in large scale adsorption systems. Polyamides can be grafted to such nanocomposites.

A dual ligand sol-gel sorbent and method of manufacture is provided herein. The dual ligand sol-gel sorbent provides superior enrichment effects through simultaneous exploitation of superhydrophobicity of one of the ligands and the ability of the other ligand to undergo - interaction with hydrophobic aromatic analytes. Sorbent performance is enhanced both in terms of analyte enrichment and sorbent stability, such as pH stability and solvent stability.

A method for forming a zeolite membrane by performing an ALD cycle, the ALD cycle including a silicon oxide film forming step and an aluminum oxide film forming step. In the silicon oxide film forming step, an organic Si compound is used as a first raw material gas and OH radicals are used as a reaction gas; in the aluminum oxide film forming step, an organic Al compound is used as a second raw material gas and OH radicals are used as a reaction gas; and the silicon oxide films and the aluminum oxide films are alternately formed in forward or reverse order to form the zeolite membrane.

A method of fabricating an oleophilic foam includes providing a foam comprising a base material. The base material is coated with an inorganic material using at least one of an atomic layer deposition (ALD), a molecular layer deposition (MLD) or sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) process. The SIS process includes at least one cycle of exposing the foam to a first metal precursor for a first predetermined time and a first partial pressure. The first metal precursor infiltrates at least a portion of the base material and binds with the base material. The foam is exposed to a second co-reactant precursor for a second predetermined time and a second partial pressure. The second co-reactant precursor reacts with the first metal precursor, thereby forming the inorganic material on the base material. The inorganic material infiltrating at least the portion of the base material. The inorganic material is functionalized with an oleophilic material.

The present specification relates to compositions, devices, apparatus, methods, kits and systems for sample preparation (e.g., separation, reduction or removal of small molecules from biomolecules in a sample). Exemplary small molecules that can be separated, reduced or removed have a molecular weight range of <2000 Da. and may include, but are not limited to, dyes, biotin, affinity tags, crosslinkers, reducing agents, labels, nanoparticles, radioactive ligands, mass tags, unreacted molecules and combinations, intermediates and derivatives of the foregoing. Exemplary biomolecules present in a sample, include but are not limited to, proteins, glycoproteins, antibodies, peptides, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, carbohydrates and lipids. Methods, compositions, kits, devices, apparatus and systems of the disclosure may advantageously provide superior separation of small molecule contaminants and additionally reduce time and expenses related to separation of small molecules from larger biomolecules in samples. Biomolecules separated as set forth herein are amenable to better downstream processing.