Approaches for the coating of capillary columns with highly phenylated stationary phases for high-temperature GC

Two highly phenylated tetramethyl-p-silphenylene-diphenylsiloxane copolymers were coated on fused silica capillary columns and used as stationary phases in GC. The copolymers offered new insights into the coating process and column preparation due to their physicochemical properties. The fused silica capillary surface had to be pretreated in various ways to achieve a homogeneous film and a well deactivated surface: etching with ammonium bifluoride; leaching with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid; silylation with tetraphenyldimethyldisilazane and triphenylsilylamine. Droplet formation was observed on tetraphenyldimethyldisilazane silylated surfaces leading to capillary columns with low separation efficiency. The topology of inhomogeneous films was investigated by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Auger electron spectroscopy. It became apparent that the stationary phase did not form droplets but islands, which are connected by a wetting layer according to the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. Both copolymers are potential stationary phases for high-temperature GC with promising properties. They offer a higher overall polarity than 75% phenyl, 25% methyl-polysiloxanes in combination with increased thermal stability and reduced bleed levels.     

Whisker surfaces in (GC)2

Growing whiskers on the inner wall of glass capillary columns is an easy roughening technique which allows efficient coating of the columns with any stationary phase. The advantages and disadvantages of whisker surfaces are discussed. Several examples are presented to illustrate the possibilities of whisker-wall coated open tubular (WWCOT) columns.     

Characterization of glass,quartz, and fused silica capillary column surfaces from contact-angle measurements

Summary This paper describes the systematic characterization of glass and the newly introduced fused silica and quartz capillary columns from surface wettability measurements. Common gas chromatographic stationary phases were used in capillary-rise measurements at temperatures up to 300°C. By construction of Zisman plots and using the Cassie equation, the relative surface concentrations of wettable and non-wettable groups were determined. By application of the Fowkes equation, the dispersion force component of the surface energy was investigated. The influence of various surface treatments such as leaching, silylation, and polymeric film formation are discussed. Wettability measurements were also used to evaluate the thermostability of various treated surfaces and to compare the surface properties of glass, quartz, and fused silica. The wettability of the surfaces with selected stationary phases as a function of temperature is also discussed.     

Twenty years of glass capillary columns. An empirical model for their preparation and properties

Both the invention of the capillary drawing machine and the preparation and successful use of the first glass capillary column were achieved by Desty and his group in 1959. This paper attempts to describe the glass capillary column in a general way, including the spreading of liquid phases of different polarity and solid surfaces with different chemical and geometrical structures, and surface activity (as a source of essential column characteristjcs such as film stability, adsorptive and catalytic activity, acidity, and thermostability). The model is entirely based on experimental evidence. It is shown that today's apolar columns may closely approach ideal performance, such as is conceivable at the present time, while a severe gap still exists between the actual and the ideal characteristics of polar columns. The problem lies in the necessity of using considerably active support surfaces for polar coatings, yielding columns with reduced upper temperature limits, and of restricted suitability concerning the nature of sample. It is hoped that progress in the field of surface roughening may produce an inert support which is wettable by polar phases.     

A problem in etching Pyrex glass capillary columns

Recent attempts to reproduce a literature method for etching of Pyrex glass capillary columns with ?etching ether”? resulted in reduction of the columns to dust through a violent explosion. Although modifications of the method produced etched columns, we found that less than satisfactory results were achieved. Introduction of etching ether by simply coating the column with a thin film of the ether produced an evenly etched column with well defined whiskers. Several observations made during the etching process will also be discussed.     

Preparation of wall-coated open tubular columns after surface roughening by means of amorphous silica

A new method for the preparation of wall-coated glass capillary columns after surface roughening by means of amorphous silica is described. After the glass capillary has been leached, a small quantity of amorphous silica is deposited evenly on the inner surface. This is done by passing a plug of dilute water glass through the capillary, followed by a flow of gaseous hydrochloric acid. The roughened surface is stabilized, deactivated and finally coated. This paper furnishes details of the technique and information about the performance of a number of columns prepared by the method.     

The preparation of thick-film glass capillary columns

A detailed method for the routine preparation of glass capillary columns is presented. The method consists of coating a glass tube with quartz powder prior to pulling the tube into a capillary. The inner surface of the capillary consists of an even distribution of quartz particles fused to the walls. This surface has been found readily deactivated by standard procedures and ideal for the preparation of thick-film glass capillary columns. The method has been thoroughly tested in two independent laboratories to ensure that the procedures described are reproducible.     

Technique for etching glass capillaries simultaneously with the drawing of the tubes

Summary A method is described for the etching of the inner surface of glass capillaries by methyl 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl ether vapour carried out simultaneously with the drawing of the capillary tube. The influence of the vapour concentration on the level of etching of the capillary surface and on column efficiency was studied with glasses having different chemical composition.     

溶胶-凝胶法制备丙二酰胺型二氧大环多胺用作开管柱电色谱固定相的研究

开管柱毛细管电色谱（OTCEC）兼有HPLC和CE的优点^[1] 。柱内径相同时,柱效是OTLC的2倍^[2]。现在常用的直接键合法的制备步骤多,周期长,柱容量小。溶胶－凝胶（sol-gel)能在很温和的条件下使有机物附着在无机介质的表面上,经化学键合作用使涂层对基质有强烈的粘附性。与通常方法相比,sol-gel法制得的涂层有高的相比和抗水解能力。Guo等^[3]用sol-gel技术制备了高相比、高样品容量的OTCEC柱,叶明亮等6[4]用sol-gel法制备了C8开管柱电色谱柱并进行了评价。我们^[5]用sol-gel法将含羟基的冠醚涂渍固化在毛细管内,用于GC分析取得满意结果。丙二酰胺型二氧大环多胺具有大环多胺和寡肽的双重性质,用作OTCEC的固定相更有助于提高分离物的选择性。本文采用sol-gel技术制备含有丙二酰胺型二氧大环多胺的OTCEC柱,可将大环化合物键合在多孔的玻璃状基体上,使毛经表面粗糙化和固定相键合两步合二为一。用制得的OTCEC柱成功地分离了苯二酚、硝基酚、氨基酚和苯二胺的位置异构体及邻卤代苯胺和生物单胺神经递质。与键合法制得的二氧大环多胺柱子^[6,7]比较,用该法制得的柱子有较高的柱效,重现性好,迁移时间短,可进行快速分析。     

Glass capillary gas chromatography of highly polar solutes like diols,acids and amines deactivation of fused silica and pretreated alkali glass support surfaces

Summary The method of support surface deactivation by PSD (alkylpolysiloxane degradation) at temperature between 300 and 450°C previously described was used to deactivate both fused silica and alkali glass surfaces of capillary columns. The latter surfaces had to be pretreated before deactivation with aqueous HCl leaching or by the dealkalisation method using flowing HCl gas at 450°C and subsequent rinsing with water for alkali removal. Excellent alkylpolysiloxane columns with regard to tailing and irreversible adsorption of highly polar solutes have been obtained on both fused silica and the pretreated alkali glass. Fused silica does not require pretreatment before deactivation by the PSD-method, however. Good polyethyleneglycol (Carbowax 20 M) columns can also be obtained by coating the two types of surfaces when no deactivation is necessary. Deactivation by the PSD method cannot be applied in this case because polar stationary liquids do not adhere to alkylpolysiloxane deactivated surfaces. Sample capacity problems arising when separating highly polar solutes with non-polar stationary phases have also been investigated.     

Flexible soft glass capillary columns vs. flexible fused silica capillary columns for gas chromatography-a critique

The gas chromatographic use of flexible thin walled soft glass capillary columns coated with non-polar stationary phases is compared to similar columns made of fused silica glass. With non-polar soft glass columns, the use of surface roughening viagaseous HCI followed by a Carbowax 20 M pretreatment gave adsorptive phenomena, and thermal instability. With very polar soft glass columns where a variety of cyanopropyl silicone phases were coated directly onto the NaCI crystal matrix, adsorptive effects were again prominent and frequent break-down in film stability with time, was also observed. These undesirable effects were due to the presence of metal oxides in the soft glass. Attempts to remove these materials from the thin walled soft glass surface by means of acid leaching produced significant brittleness. This deleterious result was further increased by attempts at high temperature silylation or polysiloxane deactivation. In sharp contrast, the fused silica surface was essentially free of metal oxides and the surface silanol groups are easily neutralized by silylation or polysiloxane deactivation techniques. No brittleness was observed following these procedures. An increasing series of high molecular weight, viscous, polymeric vinyl containing non-polar and highly polar stationary phases have been produced which readily wet the surface of the fused silica and are easily crosslinked in the presence of free radical generators. These columns are essentially free of all the problems noted with flexible thin walled soft glass. When all of the parameters involved in the fabrication of a glass capillary column are assessed, it appears at this time, that the flexible fused silica glass column with cross linked phases approaches the “ideal” capillary column.     

Open tubular capillary electrokinetic chromatography in etched fused-silica tubes

This review describes an open tubular approach to capillary electrochromatography (OTCEC) that first etches the inner surface of the fused-silica tube using ammonium hydrogen diflouride. This process can increase the inner surface area significantly. The new surface is then chemically modified to attach a bonded stationary phase using a silanization/hydrosilation reaction process. The surfaces are characterized spectroscopically by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform and by electroosmotic flow measurements. Applications of OTCEC columns with C18, diol and chiral stationary phases are described.     

Analysis of polar compounds on PEG-40M/KF glass capillary columns

The chromatographic properties of potassium fluoride as an additive to the polyethylene glycol stationary phase were investigated. This unique base in organic chemistry was shown to succeed in yielding good results for the analysis of polar compounds, including the primary amines. Glass capillary columns of high selectivity for primary and secondary aliphatic amines were obtained by the “hexane plug” procedure by which a thin layer of KF is deposited on the inner surface of glass capillary columns. Some possible types of donor-acceptor interactions occuring within the system PEG/KF/solute were considered.     

Comparison of mathemical methods for the calculation of retention indices at high temperature in gas chromatography

The retention indices of three homologous series (2-alkanones, 1-alkanols, cycloalksanones) have been determined at high temperature by the application of two new adaptation methods: A multiparametric least-squares regressions iterative method based on the dertermination of the adjusted retention times and a cubic interpolation directly using the uncorrected retention times without dead time correction. The two methods were applied to two types of columns. The first group includes eight packed columns (seven OV polymethylphenylsiloxane and Apolane-87 stationary phases), while the second includes five glass capillary columns (four methyl-silicons with different film thicknesses and Apolane-87 stationary phases). The retention indices obtained with a multiparametric and a cubic interpolation methods were compared with each other and with those calculated by Grobler's, Guardino's, Kaiser's and Kovàts' methods. The influence of coating, film thickness, and temperature on them was investigated.     

Coating properties of a novel water stationary phase in capillary supercritical fluid chromatography

The coating properties of a novel water stationary phase used in capillary supercritical fluid chromatography were investigated. The findings confirm that increasing the length or internal diameter of the type 316 stainless‐steel column used provides a linear increase in the volume of stationary phase present. Under normal operating conditions, results indicate that about 4.9 ± 0.5 μL/m of water phase is deposited uniformly inside of a typical 250 μm internal diameter 316 stainless‐steel column, which translates to an area coverage of about 6.3 ± 0.5 nL/mm² regardless of dimension. Efforts to increase the stationary phase volume present showed that etching the stainless‐steel capillary wall using hydrofluoric acid was very effective for this. For instance, after five etching cycles, this volume doubled inside of both the type 304 and the type 316 stainless‐steel columns examined. This in turn doubled analyte retention, while maintaining good peak shape and column efficiency. Overall, 316 stainless‐steel columns were more resistant to etching than 304 stainless‐steel columns. Results indicate that this approach could be useful to employ as a means of controlling the volume of water stationary phase that can be established inside of the stainless‐steel columns used with this supercritical fluid chromatography technique.     

From superamphiphobic to amphiphilic polymeric surfaces with ordered hierarchical roughness fabricated with colloidal lithography and plasma nanotexturing

Ordered, hierarchical (triple-scale), superhydrophobic, oleophobic, superoleophobic, and amphiphilic surfaces on poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA polymer substrates are fabricated using polystyrene (PS) microparticle colloidal lithography, followed by oxygen plasma etching-nanotexturing (for amphiphilic surfaces) and optional subsequent fluorocarbon plasma deposition (for amphiphobic surfaces). The PS colloidal microparticles were assembled by spin-coating. After etching/nanotexturing, the PMMA plates are amphiphilic and exhibit hierarchical (triple-scale) roughness with microscale ordered columns, and dual-scale (hundred nano/ten nano meter) nanoscale texture on the particles (top of the column) and on the etched PMMA surface. The spacing, diameter, height, and reentrant profile of the microcolumns are controlled with the etching process. Following the design requirements for superamphiphobic surfaces, we demonstrate enhancement of both hydrophobicity and oleophobicity as a result of hierarchical (triple-scale) and re-entrant topography. After fluorocarbon film deposition, we demonstrate superhydrophobic surfaces (contact angle for water 168°, compared to 110° for a flat surface), as well as superoleophobic surfaces (153° for diiodomethane, compared to 80° for a flat surface).     

Open tubular columns with mixed‐mode reversed‐phase and weak anion‐exchange stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography

Columns for open tubular capillary electrochromatography, coated with a mixed‐mode (RP/ion‐exchange) stationary phase, were prepared by using the sol–gel method. The synthetic procedure was optimized by changing the ratios of tetraethoxysilane, octyltriethoxysilane, and 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane in the initial sol. SEM studies reveal that a coating with about 400 nm thickness can be obtained. The inner surface properties of these capillaries were probed by measuring the EOF as a function of pH. The surface of this stationary phase contains octyl, amine, and residual silanol moieties; the amine and silanol groups determine the net charge on the inner surface of the capillary and can produce a switchable EOF (anodal/cathodal). The performances of the columns were evaluated by open tubular capillary electrochromatography using a wide range of compounds (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic acids, and aromatic amines).     

Parameters affecting the quality of glass capillary columns prepared by the mercury plug dynamic coating method

Summary The paper presents examinations concerning the ways obtaining glass capillary columns. The mercury plug dynamic coating method used for coating capillary columns was investigated in order to establish haw the efficiency of the columns prepared can be related to the physical properties of stationary phase and the velocity of the coating solution through the capillary tube. It was found that there is an optimum range of the viscosity and velocity of the coating solution within which the highest column efficiency can be obtained. Moreover, the mechanism of the mercury plug dynamic coating method in which the thickness of the obtained film depends on interfacial tension between the mercury and the coating solution was confirmed.     

Evaluation of graphitized glass capillary columns

The performance of graphitized glass capillary columns obtained by precoating the inner glass walls with graphitized carbon black has been evaluated. It has been shown that according to the amount of stationary phase coated such columns can operate in gas–liquid-solid chromatography and in gas–liquid chromatography so that tailor-made columns for specific separations can be prepared. The versatility of these columns is shown in the separation of various mixtures (terpenes, pesticides, isomeric species and others) of analytical importance.     

Effect of film thickness and supercooling on the performance of cholesteryl cinnamate liquid crystal capillary columns

Improved separations of the isomers of olefinic aliphatic insect pheromones were obtained on cholesteryl cinnamate glass capillary columns by operating in the supercooled temperature range of the liquid crystal. Capillary columns were prepared with varying film thickness of the stationary phase; choice of the correct film thickness ensured optimum retention for a wide range of compounds within the most effective temperature range of the liquid crystal. The deactivation procedures described made the liquid crystal columns suitable for separation of the geometric isomers of polar and nonpolar compounds.