Preparation of an Electrochromatographic Stationary Phase Using a New Polymethacrylate Monolith with Chloropropyl Functionality

A new reactive capillary monolith as an alternative to the commonly employed glycidyl methacrylate-based stationary phases in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) applications was synthesized and post-functionalized with charge-bearing groups. For this purpose, a hydrophilic capillary monolith with reactive 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl moiety was first obtained by the copolymerization of a new methacrylate-based monomer, 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA-Cl), with a methacrylic crosslinking agent, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA). The presence of 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl functionality in poly(HPMA-Cl-co-EDMA) monolith allowed the synthesis of monoliths carrying strongly ionizable anionic, cationic or neutral groups such as sulfonic acid, quaternary ammonium or octadecyl, respectively, via simple and single-stage reactions. In the present study, a reactive poly(HPMA-Cl-co-EDMA) capillary monolith was functionalized with sodium bisulfite (NaHSO₃) to have a strongly ionizable sulfonic acid group on the monolith. The resulting monolith providing cathodic electroosmotic flow in CEC was successfully used for the separation of phenol derivatives. The theoretical plate numbers up to 63,000 plates/column were achieved. The results showed that a new promising, reactive support that could be functionalized with different chromatographic ligands for different chromatographic applications was obtained in the study.