In-situ carbonizing of coal pitch on the surface of silica sphere as quasi-graphitized carbon stationary phase for liquid chromatography

Abstract

A novel chromatography stationary phase with a quasi-graphitized carbon modified shell has been developed. Coal pitch was directly carbonized on the surface of porous silica with in-situ carbonization. The carbonized coal pitch coating exhibits some degree of graphitization with a 78 nm-thick layer on the surface of silica and a 0.5 nm-thick layer on the inner surface of the mesopores. Based on the special structure of the graphitized carbon coating, the novel stationary phase can provide multiple interactions such as hydrophobic interaction, π-π interaction and dipole-dipole interaction. The novel composite material exhibited unique separation selectivity and excellent separation efficiency for polar compounds, including imidazoles, nucleosides and pesticides. Besides, the packed column also exhibited great repeatability with the RSDs of the retention time of nucleosides between 0.07%-0.50% (n = 5). Finally, satisfied result was achieved in the separation of fullerenes on the new column, suggesting the great potential in the industrial-scale purification of fullerenes.