Incorporation of carbon nanotubes in a silica HPLC column to enhance the chromatographic separation of peptides: Theoretical and practical aspects

Claire André,Rania Aljhani,Yves C Guillaume,Tijani Gharbi

doi:10.1002/jssc.201000903

Abstract

The retention mechanism of a series of peptides on a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) stationary phase inside an HPLC column was investigated over a wide range of mobile phase compositions. While the similar size C18 column exhibited an efficiency of 11.5 μm, the SWCNT column increased the efficiency, i.e. 7.10 μm at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, and significantly affected the separation quality of the peptides. The values of enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS(*)) of transfer of the peptides from the mobile to the SWCNT stationary phase were determined. The method studied each factor, i.e. ACN fraction x in the ACN/water mixture and column temperature. The changes in retention factor, ΔH and ΔS(*) as a function of the ACN fraction in the mobile phase were examined. These variations are explained using the organization of ACN in clusters in the ACN/water mixture and on the steric and electronic forces implied in the retention process. The information obtained in this work makes this SWCNT stationary phase useful for peptide research and demonstrated the role of ACN to improve the separation quality.

Highlights

Nanoscience is a discipline concerned with making, manipulating, and imaging materials with at least one dimension smaller than 100 nm
In this paper the retention mechanism of a series of peptides was analysed on a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) stationary phase
The thermodynamic properties trends were determined over a wide range of ACN fraction x in the ACN/water mixture

Summary

Introduction

Nanoscience is a discipline concerned with making, manipulating, and imaging materials with at least one dimension smaller than 100 nm. Due to unique properties of nanoparticles, such as their large surface-tovolume ratio and their properties that differ from those of corresponding bulk materials, the use of nanomaterials in separation science is growing rapidly [1,2,3]. Nanostructures such as fullerene derivatives, polymer latex nanoparticles have been used for the modification of separation media for application in chromatography and electrophoresis [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The influence of the mobile phase composition (i.e. the ACN fraction in the water/ACN mixture) and column temperature on the retention and separation of a series of peptides was investigated using a SWCNT column developed previously in our laboratory [11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion