A micron-sized monodisperse superparamagnetic polyglycidyl methacrylate (PGMA) particles coupled with heparin (PGMA-heparin) was synthesized by the polymerization, and then was evaluated as a method for purifying lactoferrin (LF) from bovine whey. The content of heparin groups at the surface of PGMA particles was 0.92 mg/g. Magnetic PGMA-heparin particles were highly effective in recovering LF directly from acid whey by a single step, whose purity was higher than that of commercial standard proteins, using NaCl solutions as eluent. The maximum LF binding capacity was 164 mg/g. The competitive adsorption tests verified that the magnetic approach offered a fast process and potential at a large scale. The practical use of magnetic PGMA-heparin particles for production of high purified LF from whey is a realistic prospect. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.