A simple and green solid phase extraction method for oligonucleotides using adsorbent with amino and carboxylic moieties

The study aimed to use a material with amino and carboxylic moieties to extract unmodified and phosphorothioate oligonucleotides. The charge of amine and carboxyl groups at the surface has changed with the change in pH of the adsorption (pH 4.5) and desorption solution (pH 9.5). Thus, both the binding and elution of the oligonucleotides were based on electrostatic interactions, and the procedure required only 10 mM ammonium acetate, with the change of pH depending on the extraction step. The developed procedure was successfully applied to extract oligonucleotides from aqueous solutions and serum samples. The method is simple and fast, providing good reproducibility (SD between 1 and 4%) and relatively high oligonucleotide recovery (81–98% for standards, 60–71% for diluted serum samples, and 80–92 for LLE serum extracts). Moreover, only environmentally friendly solvents were used.