Spectrophotometric determination of sulfhydryl concentration on the surface of thiol-modified chromatographic silica particles using 2,2′-dipyridyl disulfide reagent

Controllable organosilane monolayer density of surface bonding using silatranes for thiol functionalization of silica particles for liquid chromatography and validation of microanalytical method for elemental composition determination

The present work systematically investigates a new strategy for the functionalization of silica gel using alkyl silatrane chemistry instead of alkylsilanes for synthesis of chromatographic stationary phases. In this work, silica was chemically modified for further functionalization by a thiol-ene click reaction. Thus, 3-mercaptopropylsilatrane (MPS) was used which is capable to form self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on top of silanol surfaces in a controlled manner as previously shown for silicon wafers. The utility of this chemistry for stationary phase synthesis in liquid chromatography was not evaluated yet. Hence, silica surface modifications using MPS were studied in comparison to established 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) chemistry. First, the employed elemental analysis method was validated and it showed excellent intra-day and inter-day precisions (typically less than 5% RSD). It could be shown that the reaction kinetics of MPS was roughly 35-times faster than with MPTMS. After 30 min reaction time with MPS, the thiol content reached 74% of the maximal coverage. Due to controlled chemistry with MPS, which does not lead to oligomeric siloxane network at the silica surface, the ligand coverage was lower. However, multiple silanization cycles with MPS led to a dense surface coverage (around 4 µmol m^-2). ²⁹Si cross polarization/magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) solid-state NMR revealed distinct T¹/T²/T³ ratios for MPS and MPTMS materials with up to 80% T³ (indicative for trifunctional siloxane linkage) for MPS and around 20% T³ for MPTMS. This indicates a more homogeneous, thinner monolayer film of MPS on the silica surface, as compared to an irregular thick oligomeric siloxane network with MPTMS. Bonding of quinine carbamate as chiral selector afforded an efficient chiral stationary phase (CSP) for chromatographic enantiomer separation. Separation factors were comparable to MPTMS-bonded CSP, however, chromatographic efficiency was much better for the MPS-bonded CSP. H/u curves indicated a reduced mass transfer resistance by roughly factor 3 for MPS- compared to MPTMS-bonded CSP. This confirms better chromatographic performance of surfaces with homogeneous monolayer compared to network structures on the silica surface which suffer from poor stationary phase mass transfer.

Preparation and characterization of poly(3-mercaptopropyl)methylsiloxane functionalized silica particles and their further modification for silver ion chromatography and enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography

The present work reports on the preparation of polythiol-functionalized silica particles by thermally and photo-initiated radical addition reactions using poly(3-mercaptopropyl)methylsiloxane (PMPMS) as sulfhydryl group-rich surface modification reagent. Prior to surface modification with PMPMS, the silica was vinylized with vinyl trimethoxysilane. Finally, the usefulness of the thiolated silica particles was demonstrated by their further modification for various HPLC applications such as argentation chromatography and chiral separations. Aiming at a sulfhydryl group-rich, thin PMPMS layer on the surface of the silica several factors such as quantity of PMPMS, radical starter and reaction time were investigated by a design of experiment (DoE) approach. In thermally induced polymerization reactions 2,2'-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) was used as radical starter, in photo-induced reactions 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA) was used instead. The incorporation of PMPMS was evaluated by elemental analysis and reactive and accessible sulfhydryl groups were determined by performing a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction with 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide (DPDS). Consequently, thiol-functionalized silica particles (200 Å, 5 µm) with 1.81 ± 0.07 µmol sulfhydryl groups per m² were prepared and further functionalized for silver ion chromatography and chiral separation chromatography clearly proving its utility as platform for further silica functionalization. The fabricated stationary phase for silver ion chromatography showed promising separation abilities for fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) according to the amount of double bonds within the fatty acid residue and cis- and trans-stilbene as model molecule for cis-trans isomerism. After the successful incorporation of O-tert-butylcarbamoyl quinine (tBuCQN) as chiral selector via thiol-ene click chemistry onto the PMPMS layer, the obtained chiral stationary phases (CSP) showed good separation of derivatized amino acids in polar organic elution mode comparable with a column based on commercially available CHIRALPAK QN-AX silica particles (120 Å, 5 µm).

Synthesis, catalytic activity, and leaching studies of a heterogeneous Pd-catalyst including an immobilized bis(oxazoline) ligand

The synthesis and characterization of a novel catalytic system including Pd(OAc)(2) attached to a bis(oxazoline) (=BOX) ligand that is covalently bonded to 3-mercaptopropyl-functionalized silica gel is presented. The catalyst was tested for Suzuki-Miyaura reactions of different aryl halides with phenylboronic acid. The heterogeneity of the catalytic system was investigated using different approaches, indicating that there is virtually no Pd leaching into the reaction solution under the applied reaction conditions. Furthermore, our results show that the catalytic system can be reused multiple times without significant loss of stability or structure.

Synthesis and application of novel phenylboronate affinity materials based on organic polymer particles for selective trapping of glycoproteins

We report on synthesis concepts for the fabrication of various novel phenylboronate affinity materials based on polymethacrylate epoxy beads (Fractogel EMD Epoxy (M) 40-90 microm) and the testing of these functionalized polymer particles for selective trapping of a glycoprotein from a standard mixture containing a glycosylated and a nonglycosylated protein. Two inherently different approaches for the functionalization of the bare beads with boronate groups have been elucidated. In the first, the epoxy residues of the polymer particles were converted into reactive thiol groups which were subsequently used as anchor moieties for the immobilization of 4-vinylphenylboronic acid by radical addition or radical polymerization reaction. Three different ways for the generation of sulfhydryl groups have been examined leading to materials with distinct linker chemistries. In the second and more straightforward approach, the epoxy groups were reacted with 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid. The novel materials were thoroughly characterized by (i) quantitation of the sulfur content by elemental analysis, (ii) reactive sulfhydryls were determined in a photospectrometric assay, (iii) boron content was measured by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, and (iv) the amount of reactive boronate groups was evaluated in a fast binding assay employing adenosine as test compound. A maximum concentration of 1.2 mmol boronate groups per gram dry beads could be achieved by the presented synthesis routes. Employing the novel phenylboronate affinity materials in capture and release experiments in the batch mode, a standard glycoprotein, viz. transferrin (Tf) from human serum was separated from a nonglycosylated protein, BSA. A commercial boronate affinity material based on 3-aminophenylboronic acid modified agarose gel was employed as reference material and was found to perform significantly worse compared to the herein presented novel polymethacrylate particles.

Preparation of poly(lactic acid)/siloxane/calcium carbonate composite membranes with antibacterial activity

A poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/siloxane/calcium carbonate composite membrane containing mercapto groups (PSC-SH) with antibacterial ability and excellent bone-forming ability was prepared using 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane for application in guided bone regeneration. Mercapto groups were reported to adsorb silver ions, which are well known to show antibacterial activity. Ionic silicon species were reported to stimulate the proliferation of osteoblasts. A PSC-SH membrane with a thickness of about 10 microm shows high flexibility. The PLA in PSC-SH was converted from the crystalline phase to the amorphous phase due to dispersion of condensed siloxane clusters. The amount of mercapto group on PSC-SH surface was estimated to be about 55 nmol mm(-2) by quantitative analysis using the thiol-disulfide exchange reaction. PSC-SH adsorbed silver ions on its surface after being soaked in 6 microM silver acetate aqueous solution for 1 min. The adsorbed silver ions were seen by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to form SAg and SO3Ag bonds. A trace amount of ionic silicon species was released from the membrane after soaking in culture medium. PSC-SH with adsorbed silver ions showed good antibacterial activity and cellular compatibility in tests conducted with Staphylococcus aureus and mouse osteoblast-like cells, respectively. Antibacterial activity is expected to occur during the implantation operation by the silver ions but not to remain in the body for a long period, as the ions were present on the surface of the membrane but not inside the structure. The membrane should be useful as a biodegradable material with antibacterial activity and bone-forming ability.

Statistical optimization of the silylation reaction of a mercaptosilane with silanol groups on the surface of silica gel

Thiol-modified silica is often used as an intermediate product for further synthesis of modified stationary phases for chromatography or purification processes. Different conditions were used to synthesize such thiol-modified particles, but systematic optimizations remained scarce. In this study the reaction conditions for the synthesis of mercaptopropyl-modified silica were optimized. The general synthetic method consists in slurrying the silica gel in toluene before adding 3-mercaptopropyldimethoxymethylsilane together with a tertiary amine as catalyst (here dimethylaminopyridine). Reaction time and temperature were optimized using a full factorial design of experiment (DoE) from 3 to 25h with temperature varying between 45 and 105 degrees C. The surface coverage of the silica with mercaptopropyl-groups was analyzed by two different ways (elemental analysis and chemical surface reaction with 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide followed by HPLC-UV analysis of stoichiometrically liberated pyridyl-2-thione). We obtained a three-dimensional (3D) plot of the surface coverage as a function of reaction time and temperature. The arch-shaped hyperplane allowed us to determine an optimum with regard to time and temperature, which yields to the highest surface coverage possible. We also verified that the increase of the surface coverage does not lead to a decrease of the stability of the surface modification by subjecting the gels to treatment with high temperature and acidic conditions. The stability was monitored by different chromatographic methods. Moreover, (29)Si cross-polarization-magic angle spinning (CP-MAS) NMR spectra of materials prepared by different conditions allowed to confirm that the Si species on the surface were essentially the same, while there was only a minute difference in signal intensities for the individual Si species for materials obtained by distinct temperatures.

Immobilization of enzymes on heterofunctional epoxy supports

Immobilization of enzymes and proteins on activated supports permits the simplification of the reactor design and may be used to improve some enzyme properties. In this sense, supports containing epoxy groups seem to be useful to generate very intense multipoint covalent attachment with different nucleophiles placed on the surface of enzyme molecules (e.g., amino, thiol, hydroxyl groups). However, the intermolecular reaction between epoxy groups and soluble enzymes is extremely slow. To solve this problem, we have designed "tailor-made" heterofunctional epoxy supports. Using these, immobilization of enzymes is performed via a two-step process: (i) an initial physical or chemical intermolecular interaction of the enzyme surface with the new functional groups introduced on the support surface and (ii) a subsequent intense intramolecular multipoint covalent reaction between the nucleophiles of the already immobilized enzyme and the epoxy groups of the supports. The first immobilization may involve different enzyme regions, which will be further rigidified by multipoint covalent attachment. The design of some heterofunctional epoxy supports and the performance of the immobilization protocols are described here. The whole protocol to have an immobilized and stabilized enzyme could take from 3 days to 1 week.