Metal-Chelate Affinity Chromatography Technology

Metal Chelate affinity chromatography is a separation technique that is based on coordinate covalent binding between proteins and metal ions. Proteins have a wide variety of amino acids composition which, in effect, generates a range of different affinities towards metal ions. However, not many naturally occurring proteins have affinity for metal ions, so the technique is mainly used to purify recombinant proteins. Metal chelate chromatography is very suitable for the isolation of antibodies and the separation of antibody conjugate complexes. The separating principle is the variable affinity of different proteins for immobilized metal ions. This is a high-resolution method offering manifold applications, especially the purification of Histidine-tagged proteins.