Role of porogenic solvent type on the performance of a monolithic imprinted column

Abstract

Due to many advantages, the use of imprinted monolith columns has become the choice to replace conventional particle columns. An imprinted monolith column has high permeability with minimal backpressure. Several factors can affect the performance of a column, such as the condition of synthesis, back pressure and the nature of the stationary phase. The latter feature relies on its constituent components, one of which lies in the pore structure. Another factor that influences the structure and morphology of pores is the porogenic solvent, where the selection of a porogen must be based on the solubility of all the polymer-forming components in it and must provide a sufficient pore size to facilitate the flow of the mobile phase. The use of porogenic solvents with different polarity levels and mixtures of more than one type of porogen can affect the pore structure of the formed polymers and, thus, also affect the performance of the resulting column. In this review, we will further discuss the role of porogenic solvent—polar or non-polar, single or mixed—on the performance of monolithic polymer columns as well as its applications.