Over the years, conjugation of bioactive molecules onto polymer matrices has emerged as a versatile strategy for a wide spectrum of applications including protein purification, waste water management, drug delivery, etc. In this work, we have explored the scope of employing chitosan the second most abundant biopolymer for protein purification via a facile bioconjugation protocol. It has been well established that biologically and environmentally relevant metal ions like Fe, Cu, Zn, etc can complex effectively with catechol derivatives and this property has been widely exploited in several analytical applications also. We envisaged that the conjugation of catechol derivatives onto a polymer matrix could facilitate their interaction with metal atoms present in metalloproteins, thereby enabling their enrichment and subsequent purification. To this end, we have successfully prepared a Schiff’s Base derivative of chitosan with Dihydroxybenzaldehyde. This biopolymer bearing several catechol functionalities was screened for potential interaction with metalloproteins like Hemoglobin.
