Monolithic organic polymeric columns for capillary liquid chromatography and electrochromatography

Construction of adamantane-based monolithic column with three-dimensionally porous structure for small molecules separation and biosample analysis

BACKGROUND

The fabrication technique of capillary column is the key to the development and application of capillary liquid chromatography (cLC) to improve separation efficiency for analytes. The capillary monolithic column possessed three-dimensionally connected porous or channel structures. Unique porous structure endows excellent permeability and high performance in diverse fields, especially in separation. Thereinto, organic monolithic columns have attracted widespread attention due to their advantages of simple preparation and excellent biocompatibility. However, their separation selectivity needs to be further developed and regulated to apply the separation of more diverse samples.

RESULTS

A novel polymeric monolithic column was prepared via thermally initiated in situ copolymerization of 2-methyladamantan-2-yl acrylate (MADA) with ditrimethylolpropane tetraacrylate (DTTA) in fused silica. The prepared poly(MADA-co-DTTA) monolith showed adjustable permeability, developed porous structure and high thermal stability. Consequently, it exhibited excellent separation capability of small molecules (alkylbenzenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Especially, when acetonitrile/water (60/40, v/v) was used as the mobile phase, the theoretical plate numbers reached 84,000 plates m-1 for butylbenzene at a linear velocity of 0.5 mm s-1. Most importantly, the hydrophobicity of the poly(MADA-co-DTTA) monolithic column was regulated via host-guest interaction between adamantyl group and cucurbit [7]uril (CB[7]). Additionally, the poly(MADA-co-DTTA) monolith was further adopted for the analysis of the tryptic digest of proteins from HeLa by cLC-MS/MS. The 33,783 unique peptides and 5,299 proteins were identified on the monolith, which exhibited great separation ability for complex samples.

SIGNIFICANCE AND NOVELTY

Due to abundant pore structure and good chemical properties, the poly(MADA-co-DTTA) monolithic column exhibited high performance for the separations of small molecules and biological sample. Meanwhile, owing to the existence of adamantyl-group, CB[7] was immobilized on the poly(MADA-co-DTTA) monolithic column to fabricate poly(MADA-co-DTTA)-CB[7] by host-guest interaction. It is possible to adjust the surface chemistry of the monolithic materials to accommodate more complex analytes.

Monolith-coated microcentrifuge tubes for the easy extraction of psychoactive substances from urine samples and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry determination

BACKGROUND

Sample extraction is one of the most critical steps in most of the analytical processes. Nowadays, there is a demand for simple approaches that can effectively extract and concentrate target analytes from complex matrices, like biofluids, with accurate and reliable results.

RESULTS

A porous monolith of poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) has been immobilized on the inner wall of a 2 mL commercial polypropylene microcentrifuge tube through radical photopolymerization, using bis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phenylphosphine oxide as radical initiator and 405 nm laser pointer activation. Photopolymerization parameters were adjusted to obtain a continuous and homogeneous polymer layer (0.16 mm wet polymer thickness and 31 mg dry polymer weight) in the inner tube surface. Extraction efficiency of twelve psychoactive substances was assessed by the evaluation of the effect of sample pH, extraction and desorption times, and desorption solvent volume. Moreover, matrix effect, reusability and stability of monolith-coated microcentrifuge tubes were studied. Sample extracts were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, providing limits of quantification (LOQ) from 0.2 to 2.7 μg L-1, recoveries from 80 to 118 %, relative standard deviations lower than 17 %, and a linear range from LOQ to 500 μg L-1.

SIGNIFICANCE

The proposed device is suitable for the easy and simple extraction of psychoactive substances from urine samples with a high portability, reduced solvent consumption, low cost, and low environmental impact.

Column Characterization and Selection Systems in Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) is the most popular chromatographic mode, accounting for more than 90% of all separations. HPLC itself owes its immense popularity to it being relatively simple and inexpensive, with the equipment being reliable and easy to operate. Due to extensive automation, it can be run virtually unattended with multiple samples at various separation conditions, even by relatively low-skilled personnel. Currently, there are >600 RP-HPLC columns available to end users for purchase, some of which exhibit very large differences in selectivity and production quality. Often, two similar RP-HPLC columns are not equally suitable for the requisite separation, and to date, there is no universal RP-HPLC column covering a variety of analytes. This forces analytical laboratories to keep a multitude of diverse columns. Therefore, column selection is a crucial segment of RP-HPLC method development, especially since sample complexity is constantly increasing. Rationally choosing an appropriate column is complicated. In addition to the differences in the primary intermolecular interactions with analytes of the dispersive (London) type, individual columns can also exhibit a unique character owing to specific polar, hydrogen bond, and electron pair donor-acceptor interactions. They can also vary depending on the type of packing, amount and type of residual silanols, "end-capping", bonding density of ligands, and pore size, among others. Consequently, the chromatographic performance of RP-HPLC systems is often considerably altered depending on the selected column. Although a wide spectrum of knowledge is available on this important subject, there is still a lack of a comprehensive review for an objective comparison and/or selection of chromatographic columns. We aim for this review to be a comprehensive, authoritative, critical, and easily readable monograph of the most relevant publications regarding column selection and characterization in RP-HPLC covering the past four decades. Future perspectives, which involve the integration of state-of-the-art molecular simulations (molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo) with minimal experiments, aimed at nearly "experiment-free" column selection methodology, are proposed.

Thiol-radical-mediated polymerization for preparation of POSS-containing polyacrylate monoliths in capillary liquid chromatography

Through introducing octakis (3-mercaptopropyl) octasilsesquioxane (POSS-SH) synthesized in our lab to the prepolymerization solution containing stearyl acrylate (SA), 1,6-hexanediol ethoxylate diacrylate (HEDA) in the existence of porogenic solvents (tetrahydrofuran, 1,4-butanediol and 1-propanol), a POSS-containing hybrid monolithic column was fabricated via photo-initiated thiol-acrylate polymerization within 7 min. The resulting poly(SA-co-HEDA-co-POSS) monoliths were investigated by physical characterization and chromatographic evaluation. It was found that both the additive amount of thiol group and the proportion of porogenic solvents played vital effect on column efficiency, pore morphology and hydrophobicity of monolithic columns. Consequently, the poly(SA-co-HEDA-co-POSS) monolith possessed superior thermal stability, suitable permeability and homogeneous microstructure. The highest column efficiency was ∼111,000 N m^-1 for butylbenzene at the linear velocity of 0.71 mm s^-1 in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Subsequently, baseline separations of 9 phenolic compounds, 5 anilines and 5 antibiotics were achieved, indicating the monolithic poly(SA-co-HEDA-co-POSS) column had great ability for separation of small molecules. The analytic results of the tryptic digest of BSA and HeLa were also proved that the hybrid monolith had potential for the analysis of complicated biological samples.

Preparation of a monolithic cation-exchange material with hydrophilic external layers by two-step reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization

In recent years, the efficient analysis of biological samples has become more important due to the advances of life science and pharmaceutical research and practice. Because biological sample pretreatment is the bottleneck for fast process, material development for efficient sample process in the high-performance liquid chromatography analysis is highly desirable. In this research, a cation-exchange restricted access monolithic column was synthesized by a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization method. Utilizing the controlled/living property of the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer method, a monolithic column of cross-linked poly(sulfopropyl methacrylate) was prepared first and then linear poly(glycerol mono-methacrylate) was immobilized covalently on the surface of the polymer. The monolithic material has both functionalities of cation-exchange and protein exclusion. Protein recovery of 94.6% was obtained after grafting of poly(glycerol mono-methacrylate) while the cation-exchange property of the column is still retained. In the study, the relation between the synthetic conditions and properties of the materials was studied. The synthesis conditions including the porogen, monomer concentration, and ratio of monomers/initiator/reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agent were optimized. The study provided a method for the preparation of restricted access monolithic columns: a bifunctional material by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization method.

Comparison of positively and negatively charged achiral co-monomers added to cyclodextrin monolith: improved chiral separations in capillary electrochromatography

Cyclodextrins (CDs) and their derivatives have been one of the most popular and successful chiral additives used in electrokinetic chromatography because of the presence of multiple chiral centers, which leads to multiple chiral interactions. However, there has been relatively less published work on the use of CDs as monolithic media for capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The goal of this study was to show how the addition of achiral co-monomer to a polymerizable CD such as glycidyl methacrylate β-cyclodextrin (GMA/β-CD) can affect the enantioselective separations in monolithic CEC. To achieve this goal, polymeric monoliths columns were prepared by co-polymerizing GMA/β-CD with cationic or anionic achiral co-monomers [(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and vinyl benzyltrimethyl-ammonium (VBTA)] in the presence of conventional crosslinker (ethylene dimethacrylate) and ternary porogen system including butanediol, propanol and water. A total of 34 negatively charged compounds, 30 positively charged compounds and 33 neutral compounds were screened to compare the enantioresolution capability on the GMA/β-CD, GMA/β-CD-VBTA and GMA/β-CD-AMPS monolithic columns.

Preparation and evaluation of a hydrophilic poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide) monolithic column for pressurized capillary electrochromatography

A polar polymethacrylate-based monolithic column was introduced and evaluated as a hydrophilic interaction CEC stationary phase. The monolithic stationary phase was prepared by in situ copolymerization of a neutral monomer 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and a polar cross-linker N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide in a binary porogenic solvent consisting of dodecyl alcohol and toluene. The hydroxyl and amino groups at the surface of the monolithic stationary phase provided polar sites which were responsible for hydrophilic interactions. The composition and proportion of the polymerization mixture was investigated in detail. The mechanical stability and reproducibility of the obtained monolithic column preformed was satisfied. The effects of pH and organic solvent content on the EOF and the separation of amines, nucleosides, and narcotics on the optimized monolithic column were investigated. A typical hydrophilic interaction CEC was observed on the neutral polar stationary phase. The optimized monolithic column can obtain high-column efficiencies with 62,000-126,000 theoretical plates/m and the RSDs of column-to-column (n = 9), run-to-run (n = 5), and day-to-day (n = 3) reproducibility were less than 6.3%. The calibration curves of these five narcotics exhibited good linearity with R in the range of 0.9959-0.9970 and linear ranges of 1.0-200.0 μg/mL. The detection limits at S/N = 3 were between 0.2 and 1.2 μg/mL. The recoveries of the separation of narcotics on the column were in the range of 84.0-108.6%. The good mechanical stability, reproducibility, and quantitation capacity was suitable for pressure-assisted CEC applications.

Evaluation of a methacrylate-bonded cyclodextrins as a monolithic chiral stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography (CEC)-UV and CEC coupled to mass spectrometry

Glycidyl methacrylate-bonded β-cyclodextrin (GMA-β-CD) is synthesized as a new chiral monomer by direct chemical bonding with GMA using a fast and simple alternative procedure. Next, rigid and homogenous monolithic columns were prepared by polymerization of GMA-β-CD monomer with ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA), in the presence of commonly used porogens and a charged achiral monomer to form a versatile chiral monolith. This is the first report in which a preparation procedure for a methacrylate-bonded CD is introduced for chiral separations in CEC. The degree of substitution of GMA-β-CD monomer and mobile-phase parameters were optimized to achieve the highest enantioselectivity and plate number. To evaluate the GMA-β-CD monolithic column, different classes of chiral compounds were screened. Under the optimized β-CD monolith phase and the optimum mobile-phase conditions, 30 neutral and basic chiral compounds and two acidic compounds could be separated. The high chemical and mechanical stability, homogenous microflow and no loss of material at the interface allows for the first time the feasibility of applying this polymer-based monolithic column for CEC coupled to ESI-MS. Compared with CEC-UV, CEC-ESI-MS showed higher sensitivity and lower resolution. However, resolution greater than 1.0 can still be obtained for majority of the select tested compound in CEC-ESI-MS with at least three out of seven compound providing Rs≥1.5. The results reinforce the potential of GMA-β-CD monolithic columns for chiral separations with high sensitivity in CEC-ESI-MS. Finally, using hexobarbital as the model chiral analyte, the monolithic column demonstrated excellent stability and reproducibility of retention time and enantioselectivity.

Fast liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry for the analysis of metabolites and proteins in human body fluids

In the last decade various analytical strategies have been established to enhance separation speed and efficiency in high performance liquid chromatography applications. Chromatographic supports based on monolithic material, small porous particles, and porous layer beads have been developed and commercialized to improve throughput and separation efficiency. This paper provides an overview of current developments in fast chromatography combined with mass spectrometry for the analysis of metabolites and proteins in clinical applications. Advances and limitations of fast chromatography for the combination with mass spectrometry are discussed. Practical aspects of, recent developments in, and the present status of high-throughput analysis of human body fluids for therapeutic drug monitoring, toxicology, clinical metabolomics, and proteomics are presented.

Surfactant-bound monolithic columns for CEC

A novel anionic surfactant bound monolithic stationary phase based on 11-acrylaminoundecanoic acid is designed for CEC. The monolith possessing bonded undecanoyl groups (hydrophobic sites) and carboxyl groups (weak cationic ion-exchange sites) were evaluated as a mixed-mode stationary phase in CEC for the separation of neutral and polar solutes. Using a multivariate D-optimal design the composition of the polymerization mixture was modeled and optimized with five alkylbenzenes and seven alkyl phenyl ketones as test solutes. The D-optimal design indicates a strong dependence of electrochromatographic parameters on the concentration of 11-acrylaminoundecanoic acid monomer and porogen (water) in the polymerization mixture. A difference of 6, 8 and 13% RSD between the predicted and the experimental values in terms of efficiency, resolution and retention time, respectively, indeed confirmed that the proposed approach is practical. The physical (i.e. morphology, porosity and permeability) and chromatographic properties of the monolithic columns were thoroughly investigated. With the optimized monolithic column, high efficiency separation of N-methylcarbamates pesticides and positional isomers was successfully achieved. It appears that this type of mixed-mode monolith (containing both chargeable and hydrophobic sites) may have a great potential as a new generation of CEC stationary phase.

Surfactant-bound monolithic columns for separation of proteins in capillary high performance liquid chromatography

A surfactant-bound monolithic stationary phase based on the co-polymerization of 11-acrylamino-undecanoic acid (AAUA) is designed for capillary high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Using D-optimal design, the effect of the polymerization mixture (concentrations of monomer, crosslinker and porogens) on the chromatographic performance (resolution and analysis time) of the AAUA-EDMA monolithic column was evaluated. The polymerization mixture was optimized using three proteins as model test solutes. The D-optimal design indicates a strong dependence of chromatographic parameters on the concentration of porogens (1,4-butanediol and water) in the polymerization mixture. Optimized solutions for fast separation and high resolution separation, respectively, were obtained using the proposed multivariate optimization. Differences less than 6.8% between the predicted and the experimental values in terms of resolution and retention time indeed confirmed that the proposed approach is practical. Using the optimized column, fast separation of proteins could be obtained in 2.5 min, and a tryptic digest of myoglobin was successfully separated on the high resolution column. The physical properties (i.e., morphology, porosity and permeability) of the optimized monolithic column were thoroughly investigated. It appears that this surfactant-bound monolith may have a great potential as a new generation of capillary HPLC stationary phase.

CEC: selected developments that caught my eye since the year 2000

During the last decade, a number of new developments have emerged in the field of CEC. This paper focuses only on monolithic columns prepared from synthetic polymers. Monolithic columns have become a well-established format of stationary phases for CEC immediately after their inception in the mid-1990s. They are readily prepared in situ from liquid precursors. Also, the control over both porous properties and surface chemistries is easy to achieve. These advantages make the monolithic separation media an attractive alternative to capillary columns packed with particulate materials. Since the number of papers concerned with just this single topic of polymer-based monolithic CEC columns is large, this overview describes only those approaches this author found interesting.

High capacity organic monoliths for the simultaneous application to biopolymer chromatography and the separation of small molecules

A method for controlling the mesoporous structure of monolithic organic copolymers is presented by systematic variation in polymerisation time, employing poly(p-methylstyrene-co-1,2-(p-vinylphenyl)ethane) (MS/BVPE) as a representative styrene system. Decreasing the time of polymerisation introduces a considerable fraction of mesopores (up to 20% of the total pore volume), while keeping the support permeability reasonable high ( approximately 1.3x10(-14)m(2)). Monolith structures, prepared in such a manner, enable efficient (typically around 70,000plates/m) and fast separation of low-molecular-weight compounds, whereas their performance towards biopolymers is comparable to column supports, fabricated according to typically used protocols (polymerisation time >12h and thus monomer conversion >98%). The polymerisation time is hence a valuable tool to tailor the fraction of support flow-channels, macropores as well as mesopores, which is shown dramatically to influence the chromatographic separation characteristics of the respective column. This way, the preferred applicability of organic (styrene) monolithic copolymers can be extended to the separation of small molecules beyond biopolymer chromatography.

Applications of polymethacrylate-based monoliths in high-performance liquid chromatography

Monolithic columns were introduced in the early 1990s and have become increasingly popular as efficient stationary phases for most of the important chromatographic separation modes. Monoliths are functionally distinct from porous particle-based media in their reliance on convective mass transport. This makes resolution and capacity independent of flow rate. Monoliths also lack a void volume. This eliminates eddy dispersion and permits high-resolution separations with extremely short flow paths. The analytical value of these features is the subject of recent reviews. Nowadays, among other types of rigid macroporous monoliths, the polymethacrylate-based materials are the largest and most examined class of these sorbents. In this review, the applications of polymethacrylate-based monolithic columns are summarized for the separation, purification and analysis of low and high molecular mass compounds in the different HPLC formats, including micro- and large-scale HPLC modes.

Development of capillary electrochromatography with poly(styrene-divinylbenzene-vinylbenzenesulfonic acid) monolith as the stationary phase

A new polystyrene-based monolithic stationary phase, which was prepared by single step in situ copolymerization of styrene, divinylbenzene and vinylbenzenesulfonic acid (VBSA), was developed as a separation column for capillary electrochromatography, in which VBSA was employed as the charge-bearing monomer. Polymerization time of the polystyrene-based monolith had slightly influenced the separation time of the tested analytes, but it effectively altered their separation resolutions. Furthermore, baseline separation for a wider range of acetonitrile levels of mobile phase was achieved when a monolithic column prepared by a longer polymerization time was used. This novel polystyrene-based monolithic column provided an adequate electroosmotic flow either in basic or acidic mobile phase when VBSA level was maintained at 2.6% (w/w). Finally, this proposed polystyrene-based column allowed seven tested analytes to achieve a reproducible baseline separation within 2.2 min with theoretical plate numbers higher than 164 000 plates/m.