While there isn’t one general answer, let’s start with some background on the different types of peptides and their makeup. In general, there are two upstream modes for large-scale production of peptide-based APIs:
- Synthetic method: solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) using amino acid starting materials and either Boc or the milder Fmoc chemistry;
- Recombinant DNA method: recombinant production from microorganism culture such as E. coli
Peptides produced using the synthetic method are generally very clean and do not require as much purification compared to the recombinant peptides. The recombinant DNA method enables the production of much longer and more complex peptides; however, as the recombinant peptide must be harvested from the fermentation process, the method requires additional downstream processing to achieve final product purity.
Today, however, we are living in revolutionary times where peptide synthesis is breaking new ground; synthetic peptides can now be safely made with much longer chain lengths of amino acids, resulting in larger and more complex synthetic peptides. To purify such peptides, DAISOGEL supplies two ideal silica gel product lines.
Our Most Popular ODS-RPS
Our most robust offering is the SP-120-10-ODS-RPS, a trusted workhorse for reverse phase purifications. This 10 µm silica gel with 120 Å pore size is our standard C18 phase, and its high acidic resistance makes it a popular and economical choice for synthetic peptide purification. Taspoglutide, a GLP-1 agonist with molecular weight of 3340 daltons, can achieve >95% purity using our ODS-RPS Series, as shown below.
An ODS For Higher Recovery + Improved Resolution
However, you may have a need to improve your recovery while also maintaining purity. This may be the case for extremely high-value and/or more complex synthetic peptides. In such cases, a higher grade of DAISOGEL should be considered: SP-100-10-ODS-P. This 10 µm silica gel with 100 Å pore size offers exceptionally high surface area, which ensures sharp separation and high loading capacity for synthetic peptide purification. Taspoglutide can achieve >95% purity but with a higher recovery using the ODS-P Series, as shown below.
Other Considerations for Your Peptide
An additional benefit of our ODS-P Series is the freedom to use up to 100% water-based mobile phase conditions while still allowing a wide pH tolerance range.
In the case that your synthetic peptide is too large for the 100 Å P Series (>5000 daltons MW), the wider 120 Å pore of the RPS Series may be more appropriate. Finally, if your peptide has an unusual oblong shape or folded conformation, an even wider pore size may be needed, for which we suggest our 200 Å silica gel: SP-200-10-ODS-RPS.