Rapid Preparation of Monolithic Silica Column for Electrophoretic and Chromatographic Separation by Microwave Irradiation

Abstract

A porous monolithic sol-gel column with the solution of methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane in toluene with an acid catalyst was quickly prepared using microwave irradiation. Three typical silica based capillary monolithic columns prepared were used to evaluate the separation of some typical model compounds in the modes of CEC, pressure assisted CEC, and low pressure driven separation. Baseline separation of the analytes including thiourea, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, biphenyl, and naphthalene could be obtained by the polymer with a length of 10 cm. A scanning electron micrograph of a cross section of the capillary column showed that the gel took the form of a spherical particle aggregate and adhered to the column inner wall.

Keywords:

• Electrochromatography
• In-situ polymerization
• Microwave irradiation
• Monolithic column

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The financial supports by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry, Joint Research Project under NSFC (China) and the KOSEF (South Korea) Cooperative Program (No. 20611140646) and Program for New Century Talents in University of Henan Province (2006HNCET-01) are gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

*t ₀-thiourea, t ₁-benzene, t ₂-toluene, t ₃-ethyl benzene.