The crude peptide was purified on a preparative Kinetex reversed-phase C18 column, 150 × 21.1 mm (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA) using a BioCad Sprint (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). A flow rate of 30 mL/min with solvent A (0.1% TFA in deionized water) and solvent B (0.1% TFA in acetonitrile) was used. The column is equilibrated with 5% solvent B before sample injection. Elution is performed with a linear gradient from 5% solvent B to 100% solvent B in 60 min. The absorbance of the column effluent is monitored at 214 nm, and peak fractions are pooled and lyophilized.
The pure peptide fraction is identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) or electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and lyophilized.