Synthesis of a Cation-Exchange Resin by Inverse Suspension Polymerization for Lactoferrin Extraction from Whey

Lactoferrin (LF),the main iron-binding protein of milk,has importantnutritional, biological, and pharmaceutical properties. It is an essentialnutritional component of newborn diets and also for adult health.Small amounts of lactoferrin can be found in whey, a nutritionallyand biologically useful byproduct of the dairy industry. Althoughthe amount of lactoferrin in whey is less than that in other sourceslike milk and bovine colostrum, the extraction of LF from this underusedsource has many economic and environmental benefits. The most commontechnique for the isolation of LF from dairy products is the use ofcation-exchange resins. Here, we present the synthesis of a strongcation-exchange resin for the extraction of high-purity lactoferrinfrom whey. This resin was synthesized by inverse suspension copolymerizationof aqueous solutions of sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonateand N,N-methylenebisacrylamide in corn oil. The adsorptionefficiency of this resin showed selective extraction of lactoferrinfrom four different whey sources. The adsorption efficiency of lactoferrinfrom these whey samples ranged from 93.8 to 97.4%.

Automated summary

Lactoferrin (LF), the main iron-binding protein in milk, has nutritional, biological, and pharmaceutical properties. Extracting lactoferrin from whey, a byproduct of the dairy industry, can have economic and environmental benefits. The synthesis of a strong cation-exchange resin for selective extraction of lactoferrin from whey is presented.