Síntese e caracterização de sílicas mesoporosas para adsorção de biomoléculas modelo (BSA, Lisozima e Celulase)

Abstract

Part of the cost of production of biomolecules with high purity and yield depends on the separation and purification steps used. In these steps, it is usually necessary to use chromatography techniques and one of the factors that influence on its high performance is the development of stationary phases or suitable adsorbents. The present study investigates the adsorption of biomolecules three model (bovine serum albumin - BSA, lysozyme - LYS cellulase and - CEL) in mesoporous silica obtained from tri-block copolymers as agents drivers structure. We report different synthesis procedures aimed at modifying the surface chemistry and promoting textural changes, such as enlargement and/or pores, and the mesoscopic ordering. In the first part of this thesis were synthesized (i) SBA-15 by two different routes, sol-gel and hydrothermal and (ii) SBA-16 by hydrothermal. In the second part, SBA-15 samples with different pore sizes and channel length were s ynthesized using 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB), heptane and ammonium fluoride (NH4F). TMB was used to increase the pore diameter and heptane combined with NH4F to modify the size of the channels of SBA-15. In the third part of the work, the acidity of SBA-15 was modified by the addition of zirconium with three molar ratios Si/Zr distinct (5, 10 and 15). The adsorption of the three target biomolecules was studied by experiments in stirred tanks. The results indicate that for pure silicas, higher adsorption capacities are obtained when the pH is close to the isoelectric point of biomolecule. Very promising results for were found the adsorption of proteins on silicas with larger pore diameters (above 10 nm), up to hundreds of milligrams per gram of adsorbent. In the case of materials with zirconium, the best results were fou nd for the materials with the lowest amount of said heteroatom (Si/Zr = 15), which have similar texture to the original support. This suggests that there may be a moderate acidity which-enhances the adsorption of the studied biomolecules or excess zirconium atoms lead to steric hindrances causing a decrease in the adsorption capacity of the biomolecule