Monolithic LC columns

Thermoresponsive-polymer-based materials for temperature-modulated bioanalysis and bioseparations

In this review, bioseparations using thermoresponsive polymers are summarized. Thermoresponsive chromatography for separating bioactive compounds and proteins, and cell separations using thermoresponsive polymers and their properties are reviewed.

Thermoresponsive hydrophobic copolymer brushes modified porous monolithic silica for high-resolution bioseparation

Thermoresponsive-hydrophobic copolymer brushes were prepared on porous monolithic silica rods through surface initiated ATRP. The monolithic silica can separate biomolecules with high resolution and in short analysis times.

Synthesis and morphological characterization of phenyl-modified macroporous–mesoporous hybrid silica monoliths

We present a comprehensive approach to characterize the one-pot synthesis, macropore space morphology, and chromatographic performance of phenyl-modified macro–mesoporous silica monoliths.

Single-step approach for fabrication of vancomycin-bonded silica monolith as chiral stationary phase

A vancomycin-bonded silica monolithic column for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was prepared by a single-step in situ sol-gel approach. This sol-gel process incorporates a synthetic sol-gel precursor which contains a macrocyclic antibiotic, vancomycin, to form a porous silica network inside a fused-silica capillary. To avoid degradation of vancomycin during the column fabrication, a mild step was adopted into the sol-gel process. The performance of the vancomycin chiral stationary phase was investigated by CEC in both the reversed-phase mode and the normal-phase mode. The vancomycin chiral stationary phase was optimized with respect to vancomycin loading in the reversed-phase mode for chiral separation of thalidomide enantiomers. The best efficiency and resolution values of 94600plates/m and 5.79, respectively, were achieved. The optimized column was further applied to chiral separation of alprenolol enantiomers. A plate height of less than 7μm for the first eluted enantiomer of alprenolol was obtained in an aqueous mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.74mm/s. Using enantiomers of seven β-blockers and some other basic enantiomers as test analytes, separation efficiencies of up to 148100plates/m in the reversed-phase mode and up to 138100plates/m in the normal-phase mode were achieved.

Lasing and magnetic microbeads loaded with colloidal quantum dots and iron oxide nanocrystals

This study investigates the feasibility of loading nanostructured lasing medium and magnetic nanocrystals in the same microbead for potential applications in bio- and chemical sensing. A sequential infiltration process is proposed and tested for the preparation of magnetic and lasing microbeads by incorporating, respectively, iron oxide nanocrystals in the inner cores and colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) in the periphery regions of mesoporous silica microbeads. The co-doped bead structure was confirmed by electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The lasing action of the CQD gain medium in the mesoporous beads was characterized with micro-photoluminescence, revealing sharp whispering gallery mode lasing signatures, whereas the distinguishing superparamagnetic property was measured from the co-doped microbeads with vibrating sample magnetometry.

A comprehensive workflow of mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics in cancer metabolic biomarker discovery using human plasma and urine

Current available biomarkers lack sensitivity and/or specificity for early detection of cancer. To address this challenge, a robust and complete workflow for metabolic profiling and data mining is described in details. Three independent and complementary analytical techniques for metabolic profiling are applied: hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC-LC), reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC), and gas chromatography (GC). All three techniques are coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS) in the full scan acquisition mode, and both unsupervised and supervised methods are used for data mining. The univariate and multivariate feature selection are used to determine subsets of potentially discriminative predictors. These predictors are further identified by obtaining accurate masses and isotopic ratios using selected ion monitoring (SIM) and data-dependent MS/MS and/or accurate mass MSn ion tree scans utilizing high resolution MS. A list combining all of the identified potential biomarkers generated from different platforms and algorithms is used for pathway analysis. Such a workflow combining comprehensive metabolic profiling and advanced data mining techniques may provide a powerful approach for metabolic pathway analysis and biomarker discovery in cancer research. Two case studies with previous published data are adapted and included in the context to elucidate the application of the workflow.

Rapid separations by LC using ion-exchange media based on spongy monoliths

Novel sponge-based monoliths containing ionic functional groups were developed for rapid separation and/or concentration of ionic solutes. The cationic and anionic spongy monoliths were prepared by chemical modifications of the pore surface on an original spongy monolith consisting of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate). After hydrolysis of the spongy monolith, an anionic or a cationic moiety was introduced with succinyl chloride or acryloyl chloride/diethylamine, respectively. As a result of liquid chromatographic evaluations for the columns packed with these ionic spongy monoliths, both anionic and cationic monoliths showed ionic interactions with the opposing ionic solutes even if a higher flow rate (9.0 mL/min) was employed. Furthermore, we demonstrated the effective and rapid preconcentration of adenosine 5'-monophosphate in water using column-switching LC combined with the cationic spongy monolith as an online SPE adsorbent.

Conceptual design of large surface area porous polymeric hybrid media based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane precursors: preparation, tailoring of porous properties, and internal surface functionalization

We report on the preparation of hybrid, organic-inorganic porous materials derived from polyhedral oligomeric vinylsilsesquioxanes (vinylPOSS) via a single-step molding process. The monolithic, large surface area materials are studied with a particular focus on morphology and porous properties. Radical vinyl polymerization of the nanometer-sized POSS building blocks is therefore utilized via a thermally initiated route and in porogenic diluents such as tetrahydrofuran and polyethylene glycols of varying composition. Careful choice of these porogenic solvents and proper choice of initiator concentration lead to highly porous monolithic building entities which show a rigid, 3D-adhered, porous structure, macroscopically adapting the shape of a given mold. The described materials reflect Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of 700 m2/g or more and maximum tunable mesopore volumes of up to 2 cm3/g. Experimental investigations demonstrate the option to tailor nanoporosity and macroporosity in the single-step free-radical polymerization process. While studies on the influence of the used porogenic solvents reveal tuneability of pore sizes due to the unique pore formation process, tailored existence of residual vinyl groups allows facile postpolymerization modification of the highly porous, large surface area hybrid materials exploited via thiol-ene "click" chemistry. Our developed, simply realizable preparation process explores a new route to derive porous organic-inorganic hybrid adsorbents for a wide variety of applications such as extraction, separation science, and catalysis.

Thermally modulated cationic copolymer brush on monolithic silica rods for high-speed separation of acidic biomolecules

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide (IPAAm)-co-2-(dimethylamino)ethylmethacrylate(DMAEMA)-co-tert-butylacrylamide (tBAAm)), a thermoresponsive-cationic-copolymer, brush-grafted monolithic-silica column was prepared through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) for effective thermoresponsive anion-exchange chromatography matrices. ATRP-initiator was grafted on monolithic silica-rod surfaces by flowing a toluene solution containing ATRP initiator into monolithic silica-rod columns. IPAAm, DMAEMA, and tBAAm monomers and CuCl/CuCl₂/Me₆TREN, an ATRP catalytic system, were dissolved in 2-propanol, and the reaction solution was pumped into the preprepared initiator modified columns at 25 °C for 16 h. The constructed copolymer-brush structure on monolithic silica-rod surface was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurement of grafted copolymer. The prepared monolithic silica-rod columns were also characterized by chromatographic analysis. The cationic copolymer brush modified monolithic silica-rod columns were able to separate adenosine nucleotides with a shorter analysis time (4 min) than thermoresponsive copolymer brush-modified silica-bead-packed columns, because of the reduced diffusion path length of monolithic supporting materials. These results indicated that thermoresponsive cationic copolymer brush grafted monolithic silica-rod column prepared by ATRP was a promising tool for analyzing acidic-bioactive compounds with a remarkably short analysis time.

Performance of single particle fritted capillary columns in electrochromatography

Development of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) largely depends on column technology. The past ten years or so have seen a great number of CEC works performed on monolithic columns, due to simplicity and robustness in column fabrication. Monolithic columns eliminate the issue of column fritting, which conventionally made particle-packed capillary columns fragile and introduced nonuniformity to the chromatographic bed. The particulate packing material, however, is still a popular type of stationary phase widely used in CEC, as the rich library of HPLC packing material provides a wide range of choices for chromatographic separations performed in electrodriven mode. In this study, we investigated a purely physical fritting method, single particle fritting technology, to immobilize particulate chromatographic material inside capillary tube in a sinter-free manner to produce robust capillary columns. Single particle fritted columns present significantly improved column-to-column reproducibility (n=10) in peak efficiency, retention factor, peak area and asymmetry (%RSD=5.4, 7.7, 6.2 and 6.1, respectively, at 26 kV), enabling their practical application in high throughput parallel analysis using multiple columns.

Simultaneous determination of montelukast as sparing therapy with some inhaled corticosteroids in plasma of asthmatic patients

Montelukast (MKST) is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that has been concomitantly used with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for its steroid-sparing effect in the long-term management of asthma. However, the simultaneous determination of MKST, when used as ICS tapering therapy, with ICS in human plasma has not yet been reported. A fast and efficient reversed phase monolith HPLC method was developed for simultaneous determination of MKST with some ICS in plasma of asthmatic patients. The separation was achieved on monolith reversed phase column by isocratic mode at a flow rate of 1.0 ml min(-1) using a mobile phase consisted of a mixture of acetonitrile and 10mM phosphate buffer adjusted to pH 3.5 (40:60, v/v) and detected at 240 nm. Betamethasone dipropionate (BDP) was used as the internal standard. All the studied ICS and MKST were efficiently separated within less than 6 min. The obtained linearity range for the developed HPLC method was 0.03-10 μg ml(-1) with correlation coefficients>0.9995 and the detection limits were 0.009-0.016 μg ml(-1) in plasma for all the studied drugs. The method was validated in agreement with the requirements of US-FDA guideline and was recommended for the target applications. The method is valuable for investigations concerned with the effective tapering of ICS therapy with MKST in patients with chronic asthma in clinical practice without loss of asthma control.

Preparation of mesoporous/macroporous materials in highly concentrated emulsions based on cubic phases by a single-step method

A novel and simple single-step method for the preparation of meso/macroporous silica materials is described, which consists in templating in highly concentrated emulsions with a cubic liquid crystal in the continuous phase. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was solubilized in the aqueous continuous phase of highly concentrated emulsions stabilized by C(12)(EO)(8) and a PEO-PPO-PEO block copolymer nonionic surfactant, with a cubic liquid crystalline phase of the Fd3m type. The resulting silica materials were characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering, nitrogen sorption and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that a dual pore size distribution was obtained, consisting of mesopores in the nanometer range and macropores between 1 and 5 μm. These dual meso/macroporous silicas with bimodal pore size distribution can possess specific surface areas higher than 400 m(2)/g.

Separation of gold nanoparticles with a monolithic silica capillary column in liquid chromatography

A separation system for gold nanoparticles was developed using monolithic silica capillary columns with 50 µm i.d., which were prepared via in-situ sol-gel processes. Gold nanoparticles with five different average sizes were synthesized via reduction of tetrachloroauric acid (HAuCl(4)) under different synthesis conditions, and were evaluated by UV-visible spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering as well as transmission electron microscopy before they were separated using the developed system. The results showed that all of the gold nanoparticles had a certain size distribution, and the mean sizes obtained were 13, 17, 33, 43 and 61 nm, with σ = 2.5, 2.7, 5.2, 5.1 and 5.6 nm, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the samples with mean sizes of 13 and 17 nm were almost spherical, while larger samples were slightly non-uniform. The agglomeration of gold nanoparticles as the sample could be prevented by using a sodium dodecyl sulfate aqueous solution as the mobile phase, and gold nanoparticles were retained by adsorption on the silica surface. Separation with 8 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate as the eluent and a 1000-mm column was successful, and the separation of gold nanoparticles with 61 and 17 nm or 61 and 13 nm was demonstrated. The separation results obtained using a nonporous silica packed column as well as monolithic silica columns with or without mesopore growth were compared. It was found that separation using the mesopore-less monolithic column achieved better resolution. Through the use of a 2000-mm separation column, the mixtures of 61, 43, 17 nm and 61, 33, 13 nm could be separated.