Thiophilic gels: applications in flow-injection immunoassays for macromolecules and haptens

Simple fluorescence flow-injection immunoassays have been developed for theophylline (a hapten) and albumin (a macromolecule) using a thiophilic affinity matrix (T-gel), This gel is far superior to the previously used bacterial immunoglobulin binding proteins (e.g., proteins A and G) in terms of cost, elution conditions, non-specific binding and specificity for immunoglobulins regardless of type or subclass. Both preincubation and on-line immunoassay formats were investigated. Human serum albumin and theophylline were determined by this method and good R.S.D. and %recoveries were achieved.