Retention and enantioselective properties of ovomucoid-bonded silica columns Influence of physical properties of base materials and spacer length

The influence of the physical properties of base silica materials and spacer length on chiral separation of enantiomers on ovomucoid (OVM)-bonded materials was investigated. With regard to the pore size of the base silica materials, the 300-Å materials gave higher enantioselectivity, than the 120-Å materials, despite the smaller amounts of bonded OVM proteins. However, higher resolution was obtained with the latter materials. With regard to the spacer length, aminopropyl (AP)-, aminobutyl-, N-(4-aminobutyl)-3-aminopropyl- and N-(6-aminohexyl)-3-aminopropyl-silica gels were activated by N,N′-di-succinimidyl carbonate (DSC) and the proteins were bound. The first two materials showed excellent chiral resolution properties for the solutes tested, and the AP materials gave higher enantioselectivity and resolution. On the other hand, only oxprenolol enantiomers were slightly resolved on the last two materials. Also, AP-silica gels activated by DSC were compared with glycerylpropyl (GP)-silica gels activated by 1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole. The former materials gave higher resolution for acidic and basic solutes despite the lower enantioselectivity, whereas for the unchanged hexobarbital the latter materials gave higher enantioselectivity and almost equal resolution. The above results reveal that the 120-Å base silica gels are more suitable than the 300- Å base silica gels for obtaining larger amounts of bonded OVM proteins and that a less hydrophobic spacer such as an AP group and a hydrophilic spacer such as a GP group are suitable.