A new procedure has been developed to immobilize iminodiacetic acid (IDA) onto the surface of silica supports, such as LiChrospher Si-1000 and 1.5-microns nonporous silica, for use in high-performance immobilized metal affinity chromatography (HPIMAC) of proteins. This IDA immobilization method has been achieved through the synthesis of a new silylation reagent, 1-(iminodiacetic acid di-tert-butylester)-3-glycidoxy-propyltrimethoxysilane (IDA-silane). Various modified silicas of different ligand densities have been prepared by using mixtures between 1 and 100% of the IDA-silane diluted with the corresponding 3-glycidoxy-propyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO-silane). Frontal analysis was used with the IDA-Cu(II)-Concanavalin-A and IDA-Cu(II)-lysozyme systems to evaluate the capacity and the association constants for these HPIMAC sorbents. With these metal chelate sorbents the specific binding capacity per unit area increased continuously with the ligand density for the nonporous sorbents but reached a maximum at about 50% of the maximum ligand coverage for the porous sorbents. The association constant for the chelate-protein complex was highest for both concanavalin-A (Con-A) and lysozyme (HEWL) at the highest ligand density and decreased with lower ligand density. These observations have been evaluated in terms of the accessibility of histidine residues on the surface of the two test proteins and their ability to act as binding sites for the copper ions in the coordination complex. The experimental data indicate that both steric and conformational effects result in multiple classes of binding phenomena with Con-A and HEWL at high ligand concentrations. These experimental results provide a useful guideline for the design of silica-based sorbents for application in the HPIMAC of proteins.