Continuous separation of four 5′-ribonucleotides based on ion exchange

5′-ribonucleotides have been widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries. They include mainly uridine5′-monophosphate (UMP), adenosine5′-monophosphate (AMP), cytidine5′-monophosphate (CMP), and guanosine5′-monophosphate (GMP). In this work, the separation of them from enzymatic hydrolysate of RNA was studied based on ion exchange. We focused on developing a continuous separation process to separate four5′- ribonucleotides with the strong acid cation exchange resin NH-1 used as exchanger.(Figure Presented) studying the uptake equilibria and mechanism of5′-ribonucleotides on the resin. Outcomes: The proposed separation process can separate5′-ribonucleotides with satisfactory results. The productivity is 26% higher than that of fixed bed process. The separation time was diminished by 80%(62.7 h to 12 h). Modified Helfferich equilibrium model was developed combining ion exchange of cations and adsorption of zwitter ions. The model can predict the uptake equilibria of5′-ribonucleotides and Na+ in multicomponent systems. The hydrophobicity of bases of5′- ribonucleotides determined their relative affinities to the resin.