Mesoporous metal oxide materials for phosphoproteomics

A method for enriching phosphorylated peptides or proteins in a sample, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing said sample containing the phosphorylated peptides or proteins;
• contacting said sample with an enrichment material comprising a metal oxide mesoporous material generated via controlled hydrolysis of metal salts templated using nanoscale micellular structures, said metal oxide mesoporous material having a plurality of pores with cross sectional dimensions selected over the range of 2 to 50 nm provided in a well ordered hexagonal or cubic bicontinuous network, thereby providing an active area of exposed surfaces greater than or equal to 50 m2 g−1;
• wherein at least a portion of said phosphorylated peptides or proteins selectively binds to the metal oxide mesoporous material, said metal oxide selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, HfO2, TiO2, Ga2O3, Cr2O3, Fe2O3, Fe3O4, Al2O3, La2O3, CeO2, SnO2, Ta2O5, ZrxHf1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, ZrxTi1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, TixHf1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, and (Fe1-xGax)2O3 wherein 0<x<1;
• separating said phosphorylated peptides or proteins bound to the metal oxide mesoporous material from at least a portion of the sample;
• and
• releasing the phosphorylated peptides or proteins bound to the metal oxide mesoporous material from the metal oxide mesoporous material, thereby enriching said phosphorylated peptides or proteins in said sample.

A method of analyzing phosphorylated proteins in a sample;

• said method comprising:
• digesting said sample containing said phosphorylated proteins;
• thereby generating a solution containing phosphorylated peptides;
• contacting said solution containing the phosphorylated peptides with an enrichment material comprising a metal oxide mesoporous material generated via controlled hydrolysis of metal salts templated using nanoscale micellular structures, said metal oxide mesoporous material having a plurality of pores with cross sectional dimensions selected over the range of 2 to 50 nm provided in a well ordered hexagonal or cubic bicontinuous network, thereby providing an active area of exposed surfaces greater than or equal to 50 m2 g−1;
• wherein at least a portion of said phosphorylated peptides selectively binds to the metal oxide mesoporous material, said metal oxide selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, HfO2, TiO2, Ga2O3, Cr2O3, Fe2O3, Fe3O4, Al2O3, La2O3, CeO2, SnO2, Ta2O5, ZrxHf1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, ZrxTi1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, TixHf1-xO2 wherein 0<x<1, and (Fe1-xGax)2O3 wherein 0<x<1;
• separating said phosphorylated peptides bound to the metal oxide mesoporous material from at least a portion of the solution containing the phosphorylated peptides;
• releasing the phosphorylated peptides bound to the metal oxide mesoporous material from the metal oxide mesoporous material, thereby generating a sample enriched in said phosphorylated peptides;
• and
• analyzing said phosphorylated peptides of said sample enriched in said phosphorylated peptides using a mass spectrometry technique;
• thereby analyzing the phosphorylated proteins in said sample.