TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Process Resins

What’s in our names - Process Resins

Tosoh Bioscience has the most comprehensive selection of process media resins, with a variety of pore and particle size combinations for several modes of chromatography. When it comes to naming our resins, we’ve got it down to a science (literally). Here’s how you can identify the right resin for your purification process:

Molecule Names

1. Resin Type

Tosoh Bioscience offers two base beads for our resin products: TOYOPEARL® and TSKgel®. TOYOPEARL and TSKgel products are hydroxylated methacrylic polymer resins and are offered in many different pore sizes and particle diameters. The key differences between the two types are particle size availability, degree of crosslinking, dynamic binding capacity, and operating pressures. Since similarly functionalized TOYOPEARL and TSKgel resins have the same backbone polymer chemistry, the selectivity remains the same as you scale up or down.

2. Ligand

TOYOPEARL or TSKgel resins are available in the following modes of chromatography functionalized with these ligands:

Mode Ligand
HIC Ether, PPG, Phenyl, Butyl, Hexyl
Anion Exchange DEAE, QAE, Q, NH2
Cation Exchange CM, SP, Sulfate
Antibody Affinity rProtein A, rProtein L
Affinity Tresyl, Epoxy, Formyl, Amino, Chelate, Red, Heparin, Carboxy
Mixed-Mode Tryptophan (Trp)


3. Pore Size

TOYOPEARL or TSKgel resins are available in the following pore sizes:

TOYOPEARL and TSKgel resin number key
TOYOPEARL 550 resins HW-55 base resin 50 nm pore size
TOYOPEARL 600 resins HW-60 base resin 75 nm pore size
TOYOPEARL 650 resins HW-65 base resin 100 nm pore size
TOYOPEARL 750 resins HW-75 base resin  > 100 nm pore size
TSKgel 3PW resin PW-3000 base resin 25 nm pore size
 TSKgel 5PW resin PW-5000 base resin 100 nm pore size


4. Particle Size

Particle size is typically denoted in the product name as letters or numbers denoting the grade.

Particle size of TOYOPEARL and TSKgel resins (µm)
Grade TOYOPEARL TOYOPEARL GigaCap TSKgel
EC 200
C 100 (SEC resins are 75)
M 65 (MX-Trp is 75) 75
F 45
S 35 (SEC resins are 30) 35
(30) 30
(20) 20


5. Additional Abbreviations

Some of our products have additional features or need clarification about what type of product they are.

We use the following abbreviations to highlight these features:

HIC High Capacity 
MX Mixed-Mode 
AF Affinity
Super High Capacity Ion Exchanger 
MegaCap High Capacity Ion Exchanger for Capturing
GigaCap Ultra High Capacity Ion Exchanger

What does “HW” stand for when talking about Toyopearl HW size exclusion resin?

Literally, the HW stands for Hydrophilic Water-compatible; referring to the nature of the polymeric bead used for the size exclusion resin. The size exclusion bead is also the backbone for all of the other Toyopearl resins.