An ultra high throughput, double combinatorial screening method of peptide–metal binding

An effective ultra-high throughput, double combinatorial method of screening potential selective ligands based upon oligopeptides is described. This rapid screening of bead-based libraries by Micro X-ray Fluorescence (MXRF) was used to identify selective chelating agents for metals that may be found in radioactive dispersive devices (RDDs). The method has proven to be a powerful tool to rapidly and quantitatively screen metal–ligand interactions. It is a tag-free, sensitive technique, which in a combinatorial approach with peptide libraries (e.g. varying charge, length, hydrophobicity, ligand elements etc.), provides a rapid and quantitative means for identifying metal–ligand interactions.