A Hydrophilic Strong Anion-Exchange Hybrid Monolith for Capillary Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A hydrophilic strong anion-exchange monolithic hybrid column was prepared by in-capillary coating 5-µm bare silica particles with the copolymers of methacryloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride and pentaerythritol triacrylate in the presence of a porogen consisting of water, methanol, and cyclohexanol. The composition of the porogen and the concentration of the monomers were investigated and selected. The resulting column was characterized. The column had an uniform pore structure and could withstand a back pressure up to 3500 psi. Its permeability was comparable to that of packed columns and the swelling-shrinking behaviour negligible. Its hydrophobicity could be suppressed at acetonitrile concentrations above 40% (v/v) and the minimum theoretical plate height was about 10 µm for BrÑ. The column-to-column relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2.2% and 3.5% (n = 9) and the batch-to-batch RSDs were 2.4% and 5.5% (n = 3) for k and H values, respectively. The column exhibited a remarkable performanceforthe separation of inorganic anions, organic weak acids, phenols, and nucleotides.