Exploration of deep eutectic solvent‐based mesoporous silica spheres as high‐performance size exclusion chromatography packing materials

Abstract

ABSTRACTCholine chloride (ChCl) with three alcohol‐based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) was applied as a new type of green solvent for the modification of mesoporous silica spheres. The mesoporous silica spheres were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis. Many uniform and mesoporous silica spheres were obtained with a ChCl–1,2‐butanediol DES as a reactant. The DES‐modified mesoporous silica spheres were used for the adsorption of polysaccharides (alginic acid, fucoidan, and laminarin). The adsorption results show that the ChCl–1,2‐butanediol DES‐based silica spheres had stable interactions with the target compounds. A comparison of the three sorbents as size exclusion chromatography packing materials showed that the ChCl–1,2‐butanediol DES‐based silica spheres produced good resolution of the three test polysaccharides and exhibited the best separation capability. This was attributed to the uniform mesoporous structure of the ChCl–1,2‐butanediol DES‐based silica spheres. Therefore, more DESs should be applied to the preparation of mesoporous silica spheres in future studies. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42203.