Comprehensive two‐dimensional monolithic liquid chromatography of polar compounds

Two‐dimensional liquid chromatography largely increases the number of separated compounds in a single run, theoretically up to the product of the peaks separated in each dimension on the columns with different selectivities. On‐line coupling of a reversed‐phase column with an aqueous normal‐phase (hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) column yields orthogonal systems with high peak capacities. Fast on‐line two‐dimensional liquid chromatography needs a capillary or micro‐bore column providing low‐volume effluent fractions transferred to a short efficient second‐dimension column for separation at a high mobile phase flow rate. We prepared polymethacrylate zwitterionic monolithic micro‐columns in fused silica capillaries with structurally different dimethacrylate cross‐linkers. The columns provide dual retention mechanism (hydrophilic interaction and reversed‐phase). Setting the mobile phase composition allows adjusting the separation selectivity for various polar substance classes. Coupling on‐line an organic polymer monolithic capillary column in the first dimension with a short silica‐based monolithic column in the second dimension provides two‐dimensional liquid chromatography systems with high peak capacities. The silica monolithic C₁₈ columns provide higher separation efficiency than the particle‐packed columns at the flow rates as high as 5 mL/min used in the second dimension. Decreasing the diameter of the silica monolithic columns allows using a higher flow rate at the maximum operation pressure and lower fraction volumes transferred from the first, hydrophilic interaction dimension, into the second, reversed‐phase mode, avoiding the mobile phase compatibility issues, improving the resolution, increasing the peak capacity, and the peak production rate.     

Separation of mixtures of solvents with wide bore capillary columns connected in series

The gas chromatographic separation of the components of a complex mixture of industrial solvents, not possible on a single stationary phase owing to coelution of some of the compounds, has been achieved on two serially connected wide bore capillary columns of different polarity. The analysis of a mixture of twenty five compounds was optimized using the serial gas chromatography theory of Purnell and Williams. The capacity factors of sample components measured with the two columns coupled in series were found to agree with those predicted by theory, regardless of the order in which they were connected.     

Flow-through pore characteristics of monolithic silicas and their impact on column performance in high-performance liquid chromatography

In order to elucidate the role of the flow-through characteristics with regard to the column performance in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) native and n-octadecyl bonded monolithic silica rods and columns, respectively of 100 mm length and 4.6 mm ID with mesopores in the range between 10 and 25 nm and macropores in the range between 0.7 and 6.0 μm were examined by mercury intrusion/extrusion, scanning electron microscopy, image analysis and permeability. The obtained data of the flow-through pore sizes and porosity values as well as surface-to-volume ratio of the stationary phase skeleton enabled to predict their influence to the chromatographic separation efficiency. Our data demonstrate that mercury porosimetry is a reliable technique to obtain all the characteristic parameters of the flow-through pores of silica monoliths. An important result of our examination was that the surface-to-volume ratio of monolithic silica skeletons had more significant impact to the separation process, rather than the average flow-through pore sizes. We could also show the essential differences between the particulate and monolithic stationary phases based on theoretical computation. The results, obtained from other characterization methods also indicated the structural complexity of monolithic silica samples. Permeability of columns is a generally applicable parameter to characterize all chromatographic phases no matter the chemistry or format. The correlation coefficient obtained for mercury intrusion and permeability of water was 0.998, though our investigation revealed that the surface modification is more likely influencing the obtained results. Further, the assumption of the cylindrical morphology of flow-through pores is not relevant to the investigated monolithic silica columns. These results on the morphology of the flow-through pores and of the skeletons were confirmed by the image analysis as well. Our main finding is that the flow-through pore sizes are not relevant for the estimation of the chromatographic separation efficiency of monolithic silica columns.     

有机聚合物整体柱的改性与应用进展

有机聚合物整体柱具有制备简单、易于改性和通透性好的优点,不仅可作为微柱色谱分离分析的固定相,而且可用作样品纯化富集的载体,广泛应用于基体复杂的生化样品分析领域.该文综述了近年来有机聚合物整体柱的研究进展,重点介绍了其制备方法、改性技术及在生化样品预处理领域的研究动态.针对其制备方法,从制备过程、制备原料(单体、交联剂、...     

新型碳纳米管色谱固定相制备的研究进展

碳纳米管（CNTs）作为一种新型的功能材料,具有优异的物理、化学和机械性能,已经在分析化学领域得到了广泛的关注和应用。通过填充法或原位化学气相沉积法,可制备CNTs气相色谱固定相;将CNTs沉积在硅胶微球或有机聚合物基质微球表面,可制备填充式CNTs液相色谱固定相;通过包埋共聚法将CNTs嵌入聚合物整体柱内,可制备毛细管CNTs液相色谱整体柱。本文主要综述了近年来CNTs（单壁碳纳米管和多壁碳纳米管）用于色谱固定相制备的研究现状,包括气相色谱及液相色谱,并对该领域今后的发展进行展望。     

Non-particulate (continuous bed or monolithic) restricted-access reversed-phase media for sample clean-up and separation by capillary-format liquid chromatography

Restricted-access reversed-phase non-particulate (continuous bed or monolithic) stationary phases of different hydrophobicity synthesized in 100 m i.d. fused silica capillaries have been evaluated. A specific property of restricted-access media (RAM) is that they interact with small analytes and exclude big molecules, e.g. proteins, from access to the active sites and adsorption on the surface. This dual property facilitates direct injection of biological fluids for drug or drug-metabolite analysis. Different RAM and RAM-precursor capillary columns were tested to assess the influence of chromatographic bed morphology on loadability. Inverse size-exclusion chromatography was used for investigation of pore structural properties of the capillary-format continuous beds. The data obtained were used to discuss the mechanism of separation of the biological samples using capillary columns and to propose a model for the topochemical architecture of the RAM investigated. Different morphology of the non-particulate reversed-phase precursors resulted in two types of RAM material shielded with hydrophilic polymer, classified as homogeneous or heterogeneous topochemistry stationary phases. Capillary columns were applied for chromatography of biological fluids. High resolution was obtained, without the need for column switching, when capillary columns operated in gradient conditions. Extensive evaluation of the chromatographic properties (hydrophobicity, efficiency, separation impedance, and loadability) of the non-particulate reversed-phase materials was performed before and after shielding with hydrophilic polymer to generate restricted-access properties. Minor changes of hydrophobicity, efficiency, or separation impedance were observed after the shielding.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional high performance liquid chromatography system with immobilized liposome chromatography column and monolithic column for separation of the traditional Chinese medicine Schisandra chinensis

A comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) separation is one that employs two separation dimensions (columns) and draws on all of the available resolving power from each of the dimensions of separate the components in a sample. In this study, a comprehensive 2D chromatography approach was developed for the separation and identification of membrane permeable compounds in a famous traditional Chinese medicine of Schisandra chinensis. The first dimensional column was the immobilized liposome chromatography (ILC) column, which mimics the biological membranes and can be used to study drug-membrane interactions in liquid chromatography. Using an automatic ten-port switching valve equipped with two sample loops, the section of the first-dimension was introduced in the second-dimension consist of a silica monolithic column. More than 40 components in Schisandra chinensis were resolved by using the developed separation system and among them 14 compounds were identified interacting with the ILC column based on their retention action, UV and mass data. With this comprehensive 2D-HPLC system, the three-dimensional chromatographic fingerprints of Schisandra chinensis were preliminarily established and processed by using principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis. The obtained information can distinguish the unacceptable samples of the quality control. The result demonstrated that the 2D biochromatography system has been demonstrated to have more advantages of finding strong binding bioactive components, providing an enhanced peak capacity, good sensitivity and powerful resolution biological fingerprinting analysis of complex TCMs, which was a useful means to control the quality of and to clarify the membrane permeability of the compounds in Schisandra chinensis.     

Impact of pore structural parameters on column performance and resolution of reversed-phase monolithic silica columns for peptides and proteins

In this work, monolithic silica columns with the C4, C8, and C18 chemistry and having various macropore diameters and two different mesopore diameters are studied to access the differences in the column efficiency under isocratic elution conditions and the resolution of selected peptide pairs under reversed-phase gradient elution conditions for the separation of peptides and proteins. The columns with the pore structural characteristics that provided the most efficient separations are then employed to optimize the conditions of a gradient separation of a model mixture of peptides and proteins based on surface chemistry, gradient time, volumetric flow rate, and acetonitrile concentration. Both the mesopore and macropore diameters of the monolithic column are decisive for the column efficiency. As the diameter of the through-pores decreases, the column efficiency increases. The large set of mesopores studied with a nominal diameter of approximately 25 nm provided the most efficient column performance. The efficiency of the monolithic silica columns increase with decreasing n-alkyl chain length in the sequence of C18相似文献   

Simultaneous determination of a drug candidate and its metabolite in rat plasma samples using ultrafast monolithic column high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

An ultrafast bioanalytical method using monolithic column high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) was evaluated for the simultaneous determination of a drug discovery compound and its metabolite in plasma. Baseline separation of the two compounds was achieved with run times of 24 or 30 s under isocratic or gradient conditions, respectively. The monolithic column HPLC/MS/MS system offers shorter chromatographic run times by increasing flow rate without sacrificing separation power for the drug candidate and its biotransformation product (metabolite). In this work, the necessity for adequate chromatographic resolution was demonstrated because the quantitative determination of the drug-related metabolism product was otherwise hampered by interference from the dosed drug compound. The chromatographic performance of a monolithic silica rod column as a function of HPLC flow rates was investigated with a mixture of the drug component and its synthetic metabolite. The assay reliability of the monolithic column HPLC/MS/MS system was checked for matrix ionization suppression using the post-column infusion technique. The proposed methods were successfully applied to the analysis of study rat plasma samples for the simultaneous quantitation of both the dosed drug and its metabolite. The analytical results obtained by the proposed monolithic column methods and the 'standard' silica particle-packed HPLC column method were in good agreement, within 10% error.     

高效液相色谱整体柱在药物分离分析中的应用进展

本文对高效液相整体柱在药物分离分析方面的应用进行了综述.主要介绍了以烷氧基硅烷为主要原料,采用溶胶-凝胶法制备的硅胶整体柱,由于其具有微米级通孔结构和大的比表面积,他们在高效、快速分离小分子物质方面得到广泛地应用.对于聚合物整体柱,主要介绍了包括分子印迹聚合物在内的有机聚合物整体柱在药物分离、生物样品的处理等方面的应用.     

Applications of monolithic columns in gas chromatography and supercritical fluid chromatography

Porous monoliths are well‐known stationary phases in high‐performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrochromatography. Contrastingly, their use in other types of separation methods such as gas or supercritical fluid chromatography is limited and scarce. In particular, very few studies address the use of monolithic columns in supercritical fluid chromatography. These are limited to silica‐based monoliths and will be covered in this review together with an underlying reason for this trend. The application of monoliths in gas chromatography has received much more attention and is well documented in two reviews by Svec and Kurganov published in 2008 and 2013, respectively. The most recent studies, covered in this review, build on the previous findings and on further understanding of the influence of preparation conditions on porous properties and chromatographic performance of poly(styrene‐co‐divinylbenzene), polymethacrylate, and silica‐based monolithic columns while expanding to polymer‐based monoliths with incorporated metal organic frameworks and to vinylized hybrid silica monoliths. In addition, the potential application of porous layer open tubular monolithic columns in low‐pressure gas chromatography will be addressed.     

Comparison of monolithic and microparticulate columns for reversed-phase liquid chromatography of tryptic digests of industrial enzymes in cleaning products

Enzymes of several classes used in the formulations of cleaning products were characterized by trypsin digestion followed by HPLC with UV detection. A polymeric monolithic column (ProSwift) was used to optimize the separation of both the intact enzymes and their tryptic digests. This column was adequate for the quality control of raw industrial enzyme concentrates. Then, monolithic and microparticulate columns were compared for peptide analysis. Under optimized conditions, the analysis of tryptic digests of enzymes of different classes commonly used in the formulation of cleaning products was carried out. Number of peaks, peak capacity and global resolution were obtained in order to evaluate the chromatographic performance of each column. Particulate shell-core C18 columns (Kinetex, 2.6 μm) showed the best performance, followed by a silica monolithic column (Chromolith RP-18e) and the conventional C18 packings (Gemini, 5 μm or 3 μm). A polymeric monolithic column (ProSwift) gave the worst performances. The proposed method was satisfactorily applied to the characterization of the enzymes present in spiked detergent bases and commercial cleaners.     

Rapid and high-resolution analysis of geometric polyprenol homologues by connected octadecylsilylated monolithic silica columns in high-performance liquid chromatography

A Chromolith Performance octadecylsilyl (ODS) monolithic silica column (Merck) was compared with a conventional microparticulate ODS-bonded silica column in the high-performance liquid chromatography separation of natural polyprenols. A system comprising two connected monolithic columns afforded an equivalent separation at half the analysis time of the conventional method. Furthermore, ten connected columns achieved a tremendously high-resolution separation, in which the complicated series of homologous polyprenols with geometric isomerism were fully separated.     

Spherical ordered mesoporous silicas and silica monoliths as stationary phases for liquid chromatography

Ordered mesoporous silicas such as micelle-templated silicas (MTS) feature unique textural properties in addition to their high surface area (approximately 1000 m2/g): narrow mesopore size distributions and controlled pore connectivity. These characteristics are highly relevant to chromatographic applications for resistance to mass transfer, which has never been studied in chromatography because of the absence of model materials such as MTS. Their synthesis is based on unique self-assembly processes between surfactants and silica. In order to take advantage of the perfectly adjustable texture of MTS in chromatographic applications, their particle morphology has to be tailored at the micrometer scale. We developed a synthesis strategy to control the particle morphology of MTS using the concept of pseudomorphic transformation. Pseudomorphism was recognized in the mineral world to gain a mineral that presents a morphology not related to its crystallographic symmetry group. Pseudomorphic transformations have been applied to amorphous spherical silica particles usually used in chromatography as stationary phases to produce MTS with the same morphology, using alkaline solution to dissolve progressively and locally silica and reprecipitate it around surfactant micelles into ordered MTS structures. Spherical beads of MTS with hexagonal and cubic symmetries have been synthesized and successfully used in HPLC in fast separation processes. MTS with a highly connected structure (cubic symmetry), uniform pores with a diameter larger than 6 nm in the form of particles of 5 microm could compete with monolithic silica columns. Monolithic columns are receiving strong interest and represent a milestone in the area of fast separation. Their synthesis is a sol-gel process based on phase separation between silica and water, which is assisted by the presence of polymers. The control of the synthesis of monolithic silica has been systematically explored. Because of unresolved yet cladding problems to evaluate the resulting macromonoliths in HPLC, micromonoliths were synthesized into fused-silica capillaries and evaluated by nano-LC and CEC. Only CEC allows to gain high column efficiencies in fast separation processes. Capillary silica monolithic columns represent attractive alternatives for miniaturization processes (lab-on-a chip) using CEC.     

Silica-based monolithic columns with mixed-mode reversed-phase/weak anion-exchange selectivity principle for high-performance liquid chromatography

This article describes the synthesis, chromatographic characterization, and performance evaluation of analytical (100 x 4.6 mm id) and semipreparative (100 x 10 mm id) monolithic silica columns with mixed-mode RP/weak anion-exchange (RP/WAX) surface modification. The monolithic RP/WAX columns were obtained by immobilization of N-(10-undecenoyl)-3-aminoquinuclidine onto thiol-modified monolithic silica columns (Chromolith) by a radical addition reaction. Their chromatographic characterization by Engelhardt and Tanaka tests revealed slightly lower hydrophobic selectivities than C-8 phases, as well as higher polarity and also improved shape selectivity than RP-18e silica rods. The surface modification enabled separation by both RP and anion-exchange chromatography principles, and thus showed complementary selectivities to the RP-18e monoliths. The mixed-mode monoliths have been tested for the separation of peptides and turned out to be particularly useful for hydrophilic acidic peptides, which are usually insufficiently retained on RP-18e monolithic columns. Compared to a corresponding particulate RP/WAX column (5 microm, 10 nm pore diameter), the analytical RP/WAX monolith caused lower system pressure drops and showed, as expected, higher efficiency (e.g. by a factor of about 2.5 lower C-term for a tetrapeptide). The upscaling from the analytical to semipreparative column dimension was also successful.     

Capillary high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using monolithic columns and carbon fiber electrospray ionization emitters

Monolithic columns having long hydrocarbon chains were prepared by in-situ polymerization in capillary fused silica tubing. The capillary columns were coupled with a newly developed carbon fiber electrospray ionization (ESI) emitter for proteomic analysis using sheathless capillary HPLC-ESI mass spectrometry (MS). The sample loading capacity and chromatographic performance of the styrene-based monolithic column, which was prepared by photo-polymerization of octylstyrene (OS) and divinylbenzene (DVB) were compared with that of the methacrylate-based monolithic column composed of lauryl methacrylate (LMA) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA). The sample loading ability of tryptic digested protein in poly-OS (POS)-DVB column was higher than that of poly-LMA (PLMA)-EDMA column, possibly due to the irregular and rugluous surface offering a greater surface area of POS-DVB stationary phase. The POS-DVB column also provided better separation efficiency in the separation of high concentration (10 microg) of tryptic digested albumin bovine serum (BSA). Due to the successful interface of a highly efficient monolithic column and a stable, durable carbon fiber emitter, low femtomole levels of peptides were successfully separated and identified in the presence of large amounts of tryptic digested protein.     

A strategy to develop fast RP-HPLC methods using monolithic silica columns

Since the appearance of monolithic silica, much work has been done describing the properties of monolithic silica columns. Meanwhile the transferability of analytical methods from conventional to monolithic silica columns has been intensively investigated [1-5]. RP HPLC method development strategies for conventional columns should be updated or scaled to meet the higher performing monolithic column technology. Because of the high permeability of monolithic silica columns it should be possible to decrease the time for method development by applying high isocratic flow rates. Here we suggest a clear strategy for method development using monolithic columns. The strategy will be applicable for various sample compositions, e. g., acidic, basic, or neutral. The applicability of monolithic columns for especially complex separations of basic mixtures without the need of using a highly basic mobile phase that harms the column will be pointed out in this work. This work will describe in detail the actual method development process. For better understanding of our strategy, the influence of flow rate, column length, mobile phase composition, pH, and temperature will be discussed. Details about the application of a flow program will be mentioned.     

Determination of the enantiomers of mefloquine in plasma and whole blood using a coupled achiral-chiral high-performance liquid chromatographic system

A coupled achiral-chiral high-performance liquid chromatographic system has been developed for the determination of the enantiomers of mefloquine, (+)-MFQ and (-)-MFQ, in plasma and whole blood. The MFQ was separated from the interfering components in the biological matrix and quantified on a cyano-bonded phase, and the enantiomeric composition was determined on an (S)-naphthylurea chiral stationary phase. The two columns were connected by a switching valve equipped with a silica precolumn. The precolumn was used to concentrate the MFQ in the eluent from the achiral column before backflushing onto the chiral phase. The coupled-column system was validated and applied to the analysis of a pilot study of the pharmacokinetics of (+)- and (-)-MFQ in plasma and whole blood.     

Photopolymerized organo‐silica hybrid monolithic columns: Characterization of their performance in capillary liquid chromatography

Porous hybrid organo‐silica monoliths have been prepared inside pretreated 100 μm id UV transparent fused‐silica capillaries using simultaneous sol‐gel transition and polymerization of 3‐(methacryloyloxy)propyl trimethoxysilane in the presence of toluene as a porogen. The sol‐gel reaction was catalyzed by hydrochloric acid while various photoinitiators including azobisisobutyronitrile, 2,2‐dimethoxy‐2‐phenylacetophenone, and Irgacure 819 were used for the photopolymerization carried out under irradiation with UV light at a wavelength of 254 or 365 nm. The chromatographic performance of photopolymerized monolithic columns in RP liquid chromatographic mode was assessed with respect to the following metrics: column efficiency, methylene and steric selectivity, effect of silanol groups, van Deemter plot, permeability, and pore size distribution. Columns with an efficiency of up to 77 000 plates/m for benzene has been achieved at a flow velocity of 0.47 mm/s. The performance of photopolymerized hybrid monolithic column was compared to the performance of columns prepared via thermally initiated polymerization.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparations on capillary columns containing crosslinked polysaccharide phenylcarbamate derivatives attached to monolithic silica

Monolithic capillary columns containing native silica gel were covalently modified with 3,5-disubstituted phenylcarbamate derivatives of cellulose and amylose and applied for enantioseparations in capillary LC. The method previously used for covalent immobilization of polysaccharide phenylcarbamate derivatives onto the surface of microparticulate silica gel was successfully adapted for in situ modification of monolithic fused-silica capillary columns. The effects of the nature of polysaccharide and the substituents, as well as of multiple covalent immobilization of polysaccharide derivative on chromatographic performance of capillary columns were studied. The capillary columns obtained using this technique are stable in all solvents commonly used in LC and exhibit promising enantiomer resolving ability.