Adsorptive protein chromatography

mostly based on ion exchange

affinity binding and hydrophobic interactions

is the key technology in the large-scale production of therapeutic proteins. The development of novel technology as well as improvement of chromatographic separation efficiency

such as dynamic binding capacity and selectivity

is generally the main objective of fundamental studies on protein chromatography. Recently

polymeric ligand-modified matrices have been developed and widely studied due to the findings that some of them not only possess high equilibrium adsorption capacity but also high uptake rate. This review is devoted to an overview of the polymeric ligands for protein chromatography. Different kinds of polymeric ligands are first introduced. This is followed by the effects and functional mechanisms of the polymeric ligand chemistry on protein adsorption equilibria

uptake kinetics as well as separation performance of the ligand-modified matrices. Applications of the matrices based on the mechanisms are then illustrated to offer insight into the design of new polymeric ligands. Finally

a perspective for further development and fundamental studies on polymeric ligand-based protein chromatography is discussed.