Selective removal of copper from complex biological media with an agarose-immobilized high-affinity PSP ligand

The elucidation of metal-dependent biological processes requires selective reagents for manipulating metal ion levels within biological solutions such as growth media or cell lysates. To this end, we immobilized a phosphine sulfide-stabilized phosphine (PSP) ligand on agarose to create a resin for the selective removal of copper from chemically complex biological media through simple filtration or centrifugation. Comprised of a conformationally preorganized phenylene-bridged backbone, the PSP-ligand binds Cu(I) with a 1:1 stoichiometry and exhibits a pH-independent Cu(I) dissociation constant in the low zeptomolar range. Neither Zn(II), Fe(II), nor Mn(II) interact with the ligand at millimolar concentrations, thus offering a much-improved selectivity towards copper over other commonly employed solid-supported chelators such as Chelex 100. As revealed by X-ray fluorescence elemental analysis, the immobilized chelator effectively removes copper from cell culture growth media and cell lysate isolated from mouse fibroblasts. In addition to preparing copper-depleted media or cell lysates for biological studies, PSP-immobilized ligands might prove equally useful for applications in radiochemistry, materials science, and environmental science.