Monolithic stationary phases for fast ion chromatography and capillary electrochromatography of inorganic ions

The focus of this review is on current developments in monolithic stationary phases for the fast analysis of inorganic ions and other small molecules in ion chromatography (IC) and capillary electrochromatography (CEC), concentrating in particular on the properties of organic (polymer) monolithic materials in comparison to inorganic (silica-based) monoliths. The applicability of these materials for fast IC is discussed in the context of recent publications, including the range of synthesis and modification procedures described. While commercial monolithic silica columns already show promising results on current IC instrumentation, polymer-based monolithic stationary phases are currently predominantly used in the capillary format on modified micro-IC systems. However, they are beginning to find application in IC particularly under high pH conditions, with the potential to replace their particle-packed counterparts.     

Preparation and characterisation of anion-exchange latex-coated silica monoliths for capillary electrochromatography

Silica monoliths coated with functionalised latex particles have been prepared for use in monolithic ion-exchange capillary electrochromatography (IE-CEC) for the separation of inorganic anions. The ion-exchange monoliths were prepared using 70 nm quaternary ammonium, anion-exchange latex particles, which were bound electrostatically to a monolithic silica skeleton synthesised in a fused silica capillary. The resulting stationary phases were characterised in terms of their chromatographic performance and capacity. The capacity of a 50 microm diameter 25 cm latex-coated silica monolith was found to be 0.342 nanoequivalents and 80,000 theoretical plates per column were typically achieved for weakly retained anions, with lower efficiency being observed for analytes exhibiting strong ion-exchange interaction with the stationary phase. The electroosmotic flow (EOF) was reversed after the latex-coating was applied (-25.96 m2 V(-1) s(-1), relative standard deviation (RSD) 2.8%) and resulted in anions being separated in the co-EOF mode. Ion-exchange interactions between the analytes and the stationary phase were manipulated by varying the ion-exchange selectivity coefficient and the concentration of a competing ion (phosphate or perchlorate) present in the electrolyte. Large concentrations of competing ion (greater than 1M phosphate or 200 mM perchlorate) were required to completely suppress ion-exchange interactions, which highlighted the significant retention effects that could be achieved using monolithic columns compared to open tubular columns, without the problems associated with particle-packed columns. The latex-coated silica monoliths were easily produced in bulk quantities and performed reproducibly in acidic electrolytes. The high permeability and beneficial phase ratio makes these columns ideal for micro-LC and preconcentration applications.     

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.     

Porous Monoliths: Stationary Phases of Choice for High Performance Liquid Chromatography in Various Formats

 Modern porous monoliths have been conceived as a new class of stationary phases for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in classical columns in the early 1990s and later extended to the capillary format. These monolithic materials are prepared using simple processes carried out in an external mold (inorganic monoliths) or within the confines of the column (organic monoliths and all capillary columns). These methods afford macroporous materials with large through-pores that enable applications in a rapid flow-through mode. Since all the mobile phase must flow through the monolith, the convection considerably accelerates mass transport within the monolithic separation medium and improves the separations. As a result, the monolithic columns perform well even at very high flow rates. The applications of monolithic capillary columns are demonstrated on numerous separations in the HPLC mode.     

Preparation of monolithic silica columns for high-performance liquid chromatography

Preparation methods of monolithic silica columns for HPLC including the surface modification were reviewed. Chemical modification methods recently reported to obtain stationary phases for reversed-phase (RP), chiral, ion-exchange, and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) separations were discussed. Recent results related to preparation methods of monolithic silica were also covered. The characteristics and properties of silica monoliths and some applications of monolithic silica columns for different analytical and bioanalytical fields will be commented.     

Recent progress in polar stationary phases for CEC

This review summarizes most of the recent developments in the preparation and application of polar stationary phases for CEC covering the literature published since the year 2004. These polar stationary phases have been adopted for separation of analytes by the modes of packing column CEC, open-tubular CEC (o-CEC) and monolithic column CEC. Currently, development of o-CEC using biomolecules, such as protein and DNA, as the immobilized ligands is highlighted partly due to the simplicity of preparation. Furthermore, monolithic columns have been extended quickly, particularly inorganic materials-based monoliths, such as silica, zirconia, hafnium, etc., as an alternative to packed columns have been developed quickly.     

Monolithic bed structure for capillary liquid chromatography

Monolithic stationary phases show promise for LC as a result of their good permeability, ease of preparation and broad selectivity. Inorganic silica monoliths have been extensively studied and applied for separation of small molecules. The presence of a large number of through pores and small skeletal structure allows the chromatographic efficiencies of silica monoliths to be comparable to columns packed with 5 μm silica particles, at much lower back pressure. In comparison, organic polymeric monoliths have been mostly used for separation of bio-molecules; however, recently, applications are expanding to small molecules as well. Organic monoliths with high surface areas and fused morphology rather than conventional globular morphology have shown good performance for small molecule separations. Factors such as domain size, through-pore size and mesopore size of the monolithic structures have been found to govern the efficiency of monolithic columns. The structure and performance of monolithic columns are reviewed in comparison to particle packed columns. Studying and characterizing the bed structures of organic monolithic columns can provide great insights into their performance, and aid in structure-directed synthesis of new and improved monoliths.     

Recent developments in the field of monolithic stationary phases for capillary electrochromatography

This review summarizes the contributions to the rapidly growing area of monolithic columns based on both silica and synthetic polymers for capillary electrochromatography and chip electrochromatography, with a focus on those published during the year 2004. A wide variety of both modified approaches to the "old" monoliths and new monoliths have been reported despite the very short period of time covered. This demonstrates that monolithic stationary phases have become a well-established format in the field of electrochromatography. The simplicity of their preparation as well as the good control over their porous properties and surface chemistries make the monolithic separation media an attractive alternative to capillary columns packed with particulate materials.     

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.     

Synthesis of zirconia monoliths for chromatographic separations

The aim of this work is to join the advantages of two different kinds of stationary phases: monolithic columns and zirconia-based supports. On the one hand, silica monolithic columns allow a higher efficiency with a lower back-pressure than traditional packed columns. On the other hand, chromatographic stationary phases based on zirconia have a higher thermal and chemical stability and specific surface properties. Combining these advantages, a zirconia monolith with a macroporous framework could be a real improvement in separation sciences. Two main strategies can be used in order to obtain a zirconia surface on a monolithic skeleton: coating or direct synthesis. The coverage by a zirconia layer of the surface of a silica-based monolith can be performed using the chemical properties of the silanol surface groups. We realized this coverage using zirconium alkoxide and we further grafted n-dodecyl groups using phosphate derivatives. Any loss of efficiency was observed and fast separations have been achieved. The main advance reported in this paper is related to the preparation of zirconia monoliths by a sol-gel process starting from zirconium alkoxide. The synthesis parameters (hydrolysis ratio, porogen type, precursor concentration, drying step, etc.) were defined in order to produce a macroporous zirconia monoliths usable in separation techniques. We produced various homogeneous structures: zirconia rod 2 cm long with a diameter of 2.3 mm, and zirconia monolith inside fused silica capillaries with a 75 microm I.D. These monoliths have a skeleton size of 2 microm and have an average through pore size of 6 microm. Several separations have been reported.     

Comprehensive pore structure characterization of silica monoliths with controlled mesopore size and macropore size by nitrogen sorption, mercury porosimetry, transmission electron microscopy and inverse size exclusion chromatography

The porosity of monolithic silica columns is measured by using different analytical methods. Two sets of monoliths were prepared with a given mesopore diameter of 10 and 25 nm, respectively and with gradated macropore diameters between 1.8 and 7.5 microm. After preparing the two sets of monolithic silica columns with different macro- and mesopores the internal, external and total porosity of these columns are determined by inverse size-exclusion chromatography (ISEC) using polystyrene samples of narrow molecular size distribution and known average molecular weight. The ISEC data from the 4.6 mm analytical monolithic silica columns are used to determine the structural properties of monolithic silica capillaries (100 microm I.D.) prepared as a third set of samples. The ISEC results illustrate a multimodal mesopore structure (mesopores are pores with stagnant zones) of the monoliths. It is found by ISEC that the ratio of the different types of pores is dependent on the change in diameter of the macropores (serve as flow-through pores). The porosity data achieved from the mercury penetration measurement and nitrogen adsorption as well of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) pictures are correlated with the results we calculated from the ISEC measurements. The ISEC results, namely the multimodal pore structure of the monoliths, reported in several publications, are not confirmed analyzing the pore structures of the different silica monoliths using all other analytical methods.     

Monolithic silica columns functionalized with substituted polyproline‐derived chiral selectors as chiral stationary phases for high‐performance liquid chromatography

In this study, two polyproline‐derived chiral selectors are bonded to monolithic silica gel columns. In spite of high chiral selector coverage, the derivatization was found to have only a slight effect on the hydrodynamics of the mobile phase through the column. The enantioseparation ability of the resulting chiral monolithic columns was evaluated with a series of structurally diverse racemic test compounds. When compared to analogous bead‐based chiral stationary phases, higher enantioseparation and broader application domain were observed for monolithic columns. Moreover, the increase in flow rate produces a minor reduction of resolution, which permits to shorten analysis time. Additionally, increased loadability defines chiral polyproline derived monoliths as adequate for preparative chromatography.     

Synthesis of propyl-functionalized hybrid monolithic silica capillaries and evaluation of their performances in nano-LC and CEC

During the last decade, silica monolithic capillaries have focused more and more attention on miniaturized separation techniques like CEC, nano-LC, and chip electrochromatography owing to their unique chromatographic properties and to their possible in situ synthesis. Nevertheless, the preparation of conventional silica-based individual monolithic columns is time consuming, owing to the individual steps involved, including the synthesis of the silica matrix and its subsequent on-column chemical grafting. The hybrid organic-inorganic monoliths, whose synthesis is based on the polycondensation of siloxane with organosiloxane precursors, seems to be an attractive alternative since their direct synthesis leads to silica monoliths with organic moieties covalently linked to the inorganic silica matrix through hydrolytically stable Si-C bonds. This study describes the synthesis of hybrid monoliths using propyltrimethoxysilane (C3-TriMOS) as a new kind of silica coprecursor to subsequently increase the hydrophobicity of the stationary phase. The influence of several experimental parameters (pH, gelation temperature, relative proportion of the precursors) on the textural (skeleton and macropore size) and chromatographic properties (efficiency, retention, and electroosmotic mobility) of the obtained monoliths are discussed. The results show that the optimal coprecursor incorporation is obtained after a postgelation step during which the condensation of the C3-TriMOS coprecursor is favored by an increase in the pH medium. Thermal hydrolysis of urea previously added to the polymerization mixture allows this in situ pH increase. These hybrid monoliths present hydrophobic properties and allow the separation of test mixtures in the RP mode without any further modification. Moreover, they present excellent efficiencies since reduced plate height as low as 5 and 15 microm are obtained in the electrodriven mode (CEC) and in the hydrodynamic one (nano-LC), respectively.     

Longevity and other practical benefits of monolithic silica columns in the analysis of samples with complex matrices

At the turn of the millennium, the monolithic columns invoked new chances in HPLC. Even more than their organic polymer-based siblings, the inorganic silica-based monoliths targeted the territory of classical fully porous particle-packed columns, promising many benefits. Based on the number of published articles, the monoliths attracted academics just in the first few years after their introduction to the market. Lately, as superficially porous particles and sub-2-micron fully porous particles dominated the market, they stayed in the focus of routine laboratories and those who really appreciated the high porosity of the monolithic bed. The monoliths' practical benefits cannot be easily traced in the literature when they gradually lose academics' interest. Nevertheless, after more than 20 years of our experience, we still favor silica monoliths for their low back pressure and longevity when analyzing samples of clinical, pharmaceutical, and environmental origin. At the same time, the high permeability of monoliths enabled the birth of sequential injection chromatography, the medium-pressure separation technique based on the flexible flow manifold. This minireview aims to check, discuss, and summarize the practical aspects of monolithic silica columns in HPLC and medium-pressure sequential injection chromatography (SIC) that may not be visible at first sight but are evident retrospectively.     

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.     

Development and characterization of methacrylate-based hydrazide monoliths for oriented immobilization of antibodies

Convective interaction media (CIM; BIA Separations) monoliths are attractive stationary phases for use in affinity chromatography because they enable fast affinity binding, which is a consequence of convectively enhanced mass transport. This work focuses on the development of novel CIM hydrazide (HZ) monoliths for the oriented immobilization of antibodies. Adipic acid dihydrazide (AADH) was covalently bound to CIM epoxy monoliths to gain hydrazide groups on the monolith surface. Two different antibodies were afterwards immobilized to hydrazide functionalized monolithic columns and prepared columns were tested for their selectivity. One column was further tested for the dynamic binding capacity.     

Towards a microchip-based chromatographic platform. Part 1: Evaluation of sol-gel phases for capillary electrochromatography

Silica monolithic columns suitable for implementation on microchips have been evaluated by ion-exchange capillary electrochromatography. Two different silica monoliths were created from the alkyl silane, tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS), by introducing a water-soluble organic polymer, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), with varying molecular weights into the prehydrolyzed sol. Silica monoliths created using 10 kDa PEO were found to have a much more closed gel structure with a smaller percentage of pores in the microm size range than gels created using 100 kDa PEO. Additionally, the size of the mesopores in the 100 kDa PEO monolith was 5 nm, while those in the 10 kDa PEO gel were only 3 nm. This resulted in a strong dependence of the electroosmotic flow (EOF) on the ionic strength of the background electrolyte, with substantial pore flow through the nm size pores observed in the 10 kDa PEO gel. The chromatographic performance of the monolithic columns was evaluated by ion-exchange electrochromatography, with ion-exchange sites introduced via dynamic coating with the cationic polymer, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDAC). Separating a mixture of inorganic anions, the 10 kDa PEO monolithic columns showed a higher effective capacity than the 100 kDa PEO column.     

Thermo-responsive monolithic materials

One of the recent major improvements of HPLC was the introduction of monolithic silica columns, which have the advantage of faster separation and lower back pressure as compared to common silica beads. Here, we present an interesting alternative to such reversed-phase monolithic columns by a convenient coupling route of a thermo-responsive polymer to hydrophilic silica monoliths. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) was polymerized in solution via a reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization technique and coupled then in situ onto an amino-modified silica monolithic column. These columns were compared with RP-18 monolithic columns in the separation of steroids under isocratic condition in aqueous mobile phase. Separation is optimized just by changing the temperature, instead of changing the mobile phase composition.     

Rapid reversed-phase separation of proteins and peptides using optimized 'moulded' monolithic poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) columns

Monolithic macroporous poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) stationary phases have been prepared by free radical polymerization within the confines of 4.6-mm I.D. chromatographic columns. The optimized porous properties allow the mobile phase to flow through these columns at flow-rates of up to 10 ml/min. As opposed to the simultaneously tested columns packed with either silica or synthetic polymer beads, the monoliths exhibit only modest back pressure. The monolithic columns were able to separate mixtures of peptides and proteins in a very short time. Under the optimized conditions, the separation of five proteins can be easily achieved in less than 20 s.