@ARTICLE{10.3389/fchem.2019.00835, AUTHOR={Olsen, Christine and Skottvoll, Frøydis Sved and Brandtzaeg, Ole Kristian and Schnaars, Christian and Rongved, Pål and Lundanes, Elsa and Wilson, Steven Ray}, TITLE={Investigating Monoliths (Vinyl Azlactone-co-Ethylene Dimethacrylate) as a Support for Enzymes and Drugs, for Proteomics and Drug-Target Studies}, JOURNAL={Frontiers in Chemistry}, VOLUME={7}, YEAR={2019}, URL={https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00835}, DOI={10.3389/fchem.2019.00835}, ISSN={2296-2646}, ABSTRACT={Prior to mass spectrometry, on-line sample preparation can be beneficial to reduce manual steps, increase speed, and enable analysis of limited sample amounts. For example, bottom-up proteomics sample preparation and analysis can be accelerated by digesting proteins to peptides in an on-line enzyme reactor. We here focus on low-backpressure 100 μm inner diameter (ID) × 160 mm, 180 μm ID × 110 mm or 250 μm ID × 140 mm vinyl azlactone-co-ethylene dimethacrylate [poly(VDM-co-EDMA)] monoliths as supports for immobilizing of additional molecules (i.e., proteases or drugs), as the monolith was expected to have few unspecific interactions. For on-line protein digestion, monolith supports immobilized with trypsin enzyme were found to be suited, featuring the expected characteristics of the material, i.e., low backpressure and low carry-over. Serving as a functionalized sample loop, the monolith units were very simple to connect on-line with liquid chromatography. However, for on-line target deconvolution, the monolithic support immobilized with a Wnt pathway inhibitor was associated with numerous secondary interactions when exploring the possibility of selectively trapping target proteins by drug-target interactions. Our initial observations suggest that (poly(VDM-co-EDMA)) monoliths are promising for e.g., on-line bottom-up proteomics, but not a “fit-for-all” material. We also discuss issues related to the repeatability of monolith-preparations.} }