Abstract
The adsorption of cytochrome c has been investigated using two different types of hydrophobic periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) that have been produced under mild reaction conditions using 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene (PMO-benzene) and 4,4'-bis(triethoxysilyl)biphenyl (PMO-biphenyl) as the precursors. For comparison studies, the adsorption of cytochrome c has also been investigated using mesoporous SBA-15 as an absorbent. Mesostructured PMOs and SBA-15 have been characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), N-2-adsorption/desorption and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The adsorption rates of the hydrophobic PMOs have been compared to that of SBA-15 at both pH 7.0 and pH 9.6. From the adsorption studies, it is found that PMO-biphenyl has more hydrophobicity than PMO-benzene and showed higher adsorption capacity to cytochrome c as compared to MO-benzene.