Patent ID: 6656739
Filing Date: 2003-12-02
Classification: B01J,C40B,G01N,H01J,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for screening a compound library to determine the relative or absolute affinity of a plurality of putative ligands to a target receptor, which method comprises:(a) providing a compound library comprising a plurality of putative ligands, (b) continuously applying the compound library to a column comprising a target receptor selected from the group consisting of peptides, proteins, glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, integrins, enzymes, lectins, selectins, cell-adhesion molecules, toxins, transport proteins, hormones, antibodies, cadherins, DNA, DNA fragments, RNA and RNA fragments, optionally immobilized on a solid phase support under frontal chromatography conditions whereby the target receptor is continuously contacted with the compound library to provide an effluent; (c) continuously or intermittently applying the effluent to a mass spectrometer to provide mass spectra of the constituent putative ligands present in the effluent; (d) evaluating the mass spectra to determine a break through time for each of the putative ligands; and (e) determining an affinity to the target receptor for a putative ligand in each library relative to another putative ligand in the same library by comparing the break through time on the column for the putative ligand relative to the other putative ligand in the same library.