Preparation of open tubular capillary column covalently coated with polystyrene sulfonate with 4,4'-azobis (4-cyanopentanoyl chloride) as polymerization initiator for electrochromatographic separation of alkaloids, sulfonamides and peptides.

Abstract

An open tubular capillary electrochromatography column covalently bonded with polystyrene sulphonate was prepared via in situ polymerization using functionalized azo-initiator 4,4'-Azobis(4-cyanopentanoyl chloride). Scanning electron, fluorescence and atomic force microscopy techniques showed the formation of a relatively rough layer of polymer. In addition, -CN and C = O stretching vibrations from infrared spectroscopy proved the successful immobilization of the azo-initiator through covalent bonding and X-rayPhotoelectronSpectroscopy confirmed the elemental composition of the formed polymer layer. The prepared column was found to be appropriate for small and medium-sized molecules separation. Compared to bare fused silica capillary column higher selectivity and resolution were obtained for the separation of alkaloids, sulfonamides and peptides as a result of the electrostatic and pi-pi stacking interactions between the small organic molecules and the coated column without compromising the electroosmotic flow mobility. Separation efficiency was also increased compared to the bare capillary for the separation of alkaloids (about 1.5 times). Moreover, intraday, inter day, intra batch and inter batch relative standard deviation values of retention time and peak area of peptides were within 2% and 10%, respectively, indicating a good repeatability of the column preparation procedure. The developed method for the covalent bonding of polymers through a functionalized azo-initiator could represent a promising stable method for the preparation of open tubular column. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.