Functional Magnetic Nanoparticles for Protein Capture

Magnetic nanoparticles have a wide range of applications in catalysis, separation, magnetic resonance imaging and drug delivery. This review focuses on the synthesis, functionalization and application of magnetic nanoparticles for protein separation. Great progress in synthesizing uniform superaramagnetic nanoparticles with high saturation magnetization has been achieved, and various functional magnetic nanoparticles with specific components have been fabricated for direct capture of various proteins with the help of an external magnetic field. Achievements in our research group together with recent progress around the world will be critically reviewed in this paper, and future perspectives in the field of magnetic bioseparation with robust magnetic nanoparticles will be outlined. An emphasis is highlighted on direct capture of laccase from Trametes versicolor fermentation broth using magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles with metal affinity ligands. The Cu²⁺-chelated magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles with an average pore size of 14.5 nm provide 60.6-fold purification of laccase and 114.6% recovery yield of enzyme activity. The simple and efficient bioseparation method has great potential to be used for the robust and inexpensive preparation of purified laccase at the industrial scale.