Recent Advances in the Theory and Practice of Displacement Chromatography

Displacement chromatography has been shown to be a powerful technique for the simultaneous concentration and purification of biomolecules. Despite its distinct advantages, the displacement mode of chromatography has remained a relatively unknown technique. This is rapidly changing, however, as evidenced by the increasing number of papers on displacement chromatography in the literature and presentations at major conferences during the past few years. Much of this work has been reviewed by Frenz and Horvathl. In fact, there has been a quiet revolution in the perception of the preparative chromatographic community with respect to displacement chromatography. In this report, we will present some of the more recent advances, post 1987, in the theory and practice of the technique. Theoretical work on ideal and non-ideal displacement chromatography will be presented as will experimental work on the displacement purification of biomolecules on a variety of stationary phase materials. Preliminary work on the scale-up of the process will be examined along with novel hybrid techniques such as continuous displacement chromatography. Finally, we will offer some perspective on future research needs for displacement chromatography.