Abstract: Like a spider in its silken lair seeking to capture insect morsels, researchers must often spin an affinity web in hopes of capturing new molecules and new targets to feed the insatiable maw of drug discovery. By selectively entrapping the best species (and releasing unwanted, indigestible prey), the most likely candidates can be bound over for digestion, the chromatographic "web" can be reset, and the hunt begun anew. Using the right affinity web, molecular gnats can slip through and be ignored, poisonous bees and wasps can break free, and only the most delectable of pharmaceutical flies are trapped. Chromatography beads or membrane sheets can be made sticky like a web for molecular capture using a variety of media-metals or enzymes, receptors or ligands as specific forms of ionic glue

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