Capillary Electrochromatography Column Research Articles

Itaconic Acid-Based Organic-Polymer Monolithic Column for Hydrophilic Capillary Electrochromatography and Its Application in Pharmaceutical Analysis.

Itaconic acid is an excellent hydrophilic monomer owing to the dicarboxylic group possessing strong polarity. This study reports on the preparation of a new organic-polymer monolithic column poly(itaconic acid-co-3-(acryloyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate) (poly(IA-co-AHM)) featuring excellent hydrophilic chromatography ability and its application in pharmaceutical analysis. The monolithic column was successfully synthesized by using the monomer itaconic acid and the cross-linker AHM through an in situ copolymerization method. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed for the characterization of the poly(IA-co-AHM) monolithic column, and all of these demonstrated that the prepared itaconic acid-based monolithic column exhibited satisfactory permeability and a homogeneous porous structure. Owing to the carboxylic groups of itaconic acid, a cathodic electroosmotic flow (EOF) was generated on the itaconic acid-based monolithic column among the pH ranges of the mobile phase from 4.0 to 9.0. Depending on the powerful hydrophilic interactions, different kinds of polar substances, including thioureas, nucleoside drugs, sulfonamides, and polypeptides, were separated efficiently by the itaconic acid-based monoliths poly(IA-co-AHM). The separations of polar compounds were successfully realized, even at a lower level of 50% acetonitrile content on this monolithic column. The highest column efficiencies corresponding to N,N'-dimethylthiourea and idoxuridine were 102 720 and 124 267 N/m, respectively. The poly(IA-co-AHM) monolithic column displayed excellent repeatability, whose relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time and peak area were both lower than 5.0%. All experimental results demonstrated that the new itaconic acid-functionalized monolithic column was greatly appropriate to separate the polar compounds under the HILIC mode.

Organic-silica hybrid monolithic sorbents for sample preparation techniques: A review on advances in synthesis, characterization, and applications

Organic-silica hybrid monolithic materials have attracted considerable attention as potential stationary phases in separation science. These materials combine the advantages of organic polymer and silica-based monoliths, including easy preparation, lower back pressure, high permeability, excellent mechanical strength, thermal stability, and tunable surface chemistry with high surface area and selectivity. The outstanding chromatographic efficiency as stationary phase of hybrid monolithic capillary columns for capillary liquid chromatography and capillary electrochromatography has been reported in many papers. Organic-silica hybrid monolithic materials have also been extensively used in the field of sample preparation. Owing to their surface functionalities, these porous sorbents offer unique selectivity for pre-concentration of different analytes in the most complex matrixes by fast dynamic transport. These sorbents not only improve the analytical method sensitivity, but also introduce novelties in terms of extraction devices and instrument coupling strategies. The current review covers the period spanning from 2017 to 2023 and describes the properties of organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic materials, the present status of this technology and summarizes recent developments in their use as innovative sorbents for microextraction sample preparation techniques (solid phase microextraction with pipette tip, offline in-tube SPME, in-tube SPME online with LC, and in-tube SPME directly coupled with mass spectrometry). Aspects such as the synthesis methods (sol–gel process, one-pot approach, and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes-based procedure), characterization techniques, and strategies to improve extraction efficiency in various applications in different areas (environmental, food, bioanalysis, and proteomics) are also discussed.

Recent developments in the application of covalent organic frameworks in capillary electrochromatography

Capillary electrochromatography (CEC) has received increased attention from the academic community because it combines the excellent selectivity of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the high efficiency of capillary electrophoresis (CE). Selecting the most appropriate stationary phase material is crucial to achieve better separation effects in CEC. In recent years, a considerable number of materials, such as graphene oxide, proteins, metal organic frameworks, and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), have been widely used as stationary phases in CEC to further improve its separation performance and extend its scope of potential applications. Among these materials, COFs have shown great application prospects in CEC owing to their unique properties, which include high porosity, large surface area, excellent stability, tunable pore size, and high designability of the framework structure. This review systematically summarizes published papers on the development and application of COFs in CEC from 2016 to 2023. First, two COF-based capillary columns (i. e., open-tube CEC columns and monolithic CEC columns) and their preparation methods are introduced. Second, the applications of CEC based on COF stationary phases in the separation of environmental endocrine disruptors, pesticides, aromatic compounds, amino acids, and drugs, particularly chiral drugs, are systematically summarized. The separation mechanism of CEC based on COF stationary phases is also introduced. At present, the good separation ability of COF-based CEC is mainly attributed to two factors: 1) The size exclusion effect of the pores of the COF stationary phase. Because of differences in the sizes of their organic molecular building units and side chains, COFs have varying pore sizes and topological structures. Thus, target analytes smaller than the pores of the COFs can enter the frameworks and interact with them during separation. On the other hand, target analytes larger than the pores of the COFs cannot enter the frameworks and interact with them during separation; thus, they can be separated. 2) The interactions between the target analytes and side chains (e. g., hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions, etc.) of the COFs. Since COFs usually contain alkyl side chains, aromatic structures, and oxygen and/or nitrogen atoms with high electronegativity, various interactions could occur between the COFs and target analytes. Finally, directions for the future development and strategic application of CEC based on COF stationary phases are proposed. We believe that future research in CEC based on COF stationary phases should focus on the following aspects: 1) The use of cheminformatics to design and construct COFs to improve the efficiency of COF capillary column preparation; 2) the development of milder methods to synthesize COFs that can meet the requirements of high performance COF capillary columns; and 3) in-depth research to explore the separation mechanism of CEC based on COF stationary phases to provide theoretical guidance for developing CEC methods suitable for the separation and analysis of complex samples.

Chiral covalent organic framework-based open tubular capillary electrochromatography column for enantioseparation of selected amino acids and pesticides.

A novel chiral covalent organic framework (CCOF) was synthesized with an imine covalent organic framework TpBD (synthesized via Schiff-base reaction between phloroglucinol (Tp) and benzidine (BD)) modified using (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonyl chloride as chiral ligand by chemical bonding method for the first time, and was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, thermogravimetry analysis, and zeta-potential. The results revealed that the CCOF had good crystallinity, high specific surface area and good thermal stability. Then, the CCOF was employed as stationary phase in open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) column (the CCOF-bonded OT-CEC column) for enantioseparation of 21 single chiral compounds (12 natural amino acids including acidic, neutral and basic, 9 pesticides including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) and simultaneous enantioseparation of mixture amino acids and pesticides with similar structures or properties. Under the optimized CEC conditions, all the analytes reached the baseline separation with high resolutions of 1.67-25.93 and selectivity factors of 1.06-3.49 in 8min. Finally, the reproducibility and stability of the CCOF-bonded OT-CEC column were measured. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) of retention time and separation efficiency were 0.58-4.57% and 1.85-4.98%, and not obviously changed after 150 runs. These results demonstrate that COFs-modified OT-CEC explore a promising method to separate chiral compounds.

Preparation of β-cyclodextrin covalent organic framework-immobilized poly(glycidyl methacrylate) nanoparticle-coated open tubular capillary electrochromatography column for chiral separation.

A new enantioselective open-tubular capillary electrochromatography was developed employing poly(glycidyl methacrylate) nanoparticles/β-cyclodextrin covalent organic frameworks chemically immobilized on the inner wall of the capillary as a stationary phase. A pretreated silica-fused capillary reacted with 3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane followed by poly(glycidyl methacrylate) nanoparticles and β-cyclodextrin covalent organic frameworks through a ring-opening reaction. The resulting coating layer on the capillary was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The electroosmotic flow was studied to evaluate the variation of the immobilized columns. The chiral separation performance of the fabricated capillary columns was validated by the analysis of the four racemic proton pump inhibitors including lansoprazole, pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, and omeprazole. The influences of bonding concentration, bonding time, bonding temperature, buffer type and concentration, buffer pH, and applied voltage on the enantioseparation of four proton pump inhibitors were investigated. Good enantioseparation efficiencies were achieved for all enantiomers. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of four proton pump inhibitors were fully resolved within 10min with high resolutions of 9.5-13.9. The column-to-column and inter- to intra-day repeatability of the fabricated capillary columns through relative standard deviation were found better than 9.54%, exhibiting satisfactory stability and repeatability of the fabricated capillary columns.

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.

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.

β-Cyclodextrin covalent organic framework supported by polydopamine as stationary phases for electrochromatographic enantioseparation.

In this work, a new open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) column was prepared using β-cyclodextrin covalent organic framework (β-CD COF) as a stationary phase. Polydopamine was used to assist fabrication of β-CD COF on an inner wall of a fused-silica capillary. The coating layer on the capillary was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Electroosmotic flow (EOF) was also studied to evaluate the variation of the inner wall of immobilized columns. Furthermore, the chiral separation effectiveness of the fabricated capillary column was evaluated by CEC using enantiomers of several related proton pump inhibitors as model analytes, including omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole and tenatoprazole. The effects of bonding time and concentration of β-CD COF, the type, concentration and pH of buffer, applied voltage were investigated to obtain satisfactory enantioselectivity. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of four analytes were resolved within 15min with resolutions of 1.63-2.62. The relative standard deviation values for migration times and resolutions of the analytes representing intraday and interday were less than 6.75% and 4.24%, respectively. The results reveal that β-CD COF has great potential as chiral-stationary phases for enantioseparation in CEC.

Homochiral iron-based γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic framework for stereoisomer separation in the open tubular capillary electrochromatography

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs), as a novel separation mediums, have in recent years attracted wide consideration in capillary electrochromatography (CEC). However, the instability of frameworks limited the application of the MOF-based chiral separation capillary. Herein, Iron-based γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic framework (Fe-CD-MOF) with mesoporous was developed as the chiral stationary phase in open tubular capillary electrochromatography column (OT-CEC) for the stereoisomer separation of fourteen chiral drugs and one chiral alcohol. The capillary column with MOF coating exhibited the best performance (resolution value: 17.07) for anisodamine in any MOF-based capillary column that has never been reported. Moreover, the effect of pH, buffer concentration, and methanol content has been investigated. The novel coated capillary was also applied for the quantitative analysis of a real sample. The Fe-CD-MOF coated capillary showed outstanding repeatability and stability, with the satisfactory relative standard deviations (RSDs) for intra-day, inter-day, and column-to-column. Finally, the enantioseparation mechanism of the Fe-CD-MOF coated capillary was evaluated by adsorption kinetic experiments. In summary, this work indicated the novel and renewable Fe-CD-MOF was a potential chiral stationary phase in CEC chiral separation.

A covalent organic framework for chiral capillary electrochromatography using a cyclodextrin mobile phase additive.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been recognized as promising solid phases in capillary electrochromatography (CEC). Imine-based COF-coated open-tubular CEC column (COF TpBD-coated OT column) was prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nitrogen adsorption/desorption (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller [BET]), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the column efficiency was up to 26,776 plate/m, and the thickness of stationary phase was about 6.00 μm for the column prepared under the optimal conditions. Enantioseparation of 15 kinds of the single chiral compounds (histidine, arginine, lysine, leucine, threonine, methionine, valine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid, fipronil, diclofop, imazamox, quizalofop-p, imazethapyr, and acephate) and 3 kinds of mixed amino acids racemaces (valine, methionine, and glutamic acid) were performed with three methods: capillary electrochromatography with COF TpBD-coated OT column (Method 1), CEC with COF TpBD-coated OT column as the separation channels, and capillary electrophoresis (CE) with HP-β-CD as the chiral mobile phase additive (Method 2) and CE with HP-β-CD as the chiral mobile phase additive (Method 3). Separation efficiency and chiral selectivity of Method 2 was best among the three methods. Under the optimal separation conditions of Method 2, all the enantiomers reached the baseline separation regardless of the single chiral compounds or the mixed amino acids. Relative standard deviation (RSDs) of the mean column efficiency for reproducibility and stability was in the range of 0.46-1.49%. This combination of CEC and CE has great potential for use in chiral separation.

A Novel Chiral Covalent Organic Framework in Open Tubular Capillary Electrochromatography Column for Rapid and Simultaneous Enantioseparation of Amino Acids and Pesticides

A Novel Chiral Covalent Organic Framework in Open Tubular Capillary Electrochromatography Column for Rapid and Simultaneous Enantioseparation of Amino Acids and Pesticides

Porous layer open-tubular column with styrene and itaconic acid-copolymerized polymer as stationary phase for capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry.

Enhancing the specific surface area of stationary phase is important in chromatographic science, especially in open-tubular column in which the coating only exists on the inner surface. In this work, a porous layer open-tubular (PLOT) column with stationary phase of styrene and itaconic acid-copolymerized polymer was developed. Thermal-initiated polymerization method with strategies like controlling the ratio of reaction reagents to solvents and reaction time, confinement by the narrow inner diameter of capillary were used for preparing the stationary phase with uniform structure and relatively thick layer. Due to the high separation efficiency and capacity, the PLOT column was used for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) separation of multiple groups of analytes like alkylbenzenes, phenyl amines, phenols, vanillins, and sulfonamides with theoretical plates (N) up to 1,54,845 N/m. In addition, due to high permeability of the CEC column and large electroosmotic flow mobility generated by abundant carboxyl groups in the coating material, the PLOT-CEC column was successfully coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) through a sheath flow interface. The developed PLOT-CEC-MS method was used for the analysis of antiseptics like parabens and herbicides like pyridines.

Preparation of a polydopamine/β-cyclodextrin coated open tubular capillary electrochromatography column and application for enantioseparation of five proton pump inhibitors.

An open tubular capillary electrochromatography column was prepared by immobilizing β-cyclodextrin on the inner wall of pretreated capillary via noncovalent adsorption of polydopamine. The resulting coating layer on the capillary was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Electroosmotic flow was studied to evaluate the variation of the immobilized columns. The prepared columns showed good chiral separation performance toward five proton pump inhibitors including lansoprazole, pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, rabeprazole, and omeprazole. The influences of β-cyclodextrin concentration, coating time, buffer pH, buffer concentration, and applied voltage on separation were investigated. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of five analytes were fully resolved within 15min with high resolutions of 4.57 to 8.13. The method was extensively validated in terms of accuracy, precision, and linearity and proved to be robust. The relative standard deviation values for migration times and peak areas of the analytes representing intraday and interday were less than 1.9 and 3.6%, respectively. Further, the polydopamine/β-cyclodextrin coated capillary column could be successively used over 100 runs without showing significant decrease in the separation efficiency.

Preparation of Benzyl Quinine-modified Monolithic Column for Reversed-phase Capillary Electrochromatography.

N-Benzylquininium chloride is a versatile functional monomer with quinoline and benzyl groups, which is beneficial for reversed-phase chromatography. In this study, a novel monolithic column with reversed-phase mode was synthesized using N-benzylquininium chloride as the monomer and 3-(acryloyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate as the cross-linker in a binary porogenic solvent consisting of PEG 400 and a 0.05 M sodium hydroxide aqueous solution. The alkaline solution were found to be useful for the improvement of the mechanical stability of the porous monoliths. The monolithic column showed excellent reversed-phase selectivity and various compounds, such as alkylbenzenes, phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were separated successfully. The highest column efficiency was 1.75 × 105 N m-1. The relative standard deviations of the migration time for thiourea and four alkylbenzenes were all less than 5.0%, which indicates the monolithic column has good stability. The application of the monolithic column for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in spiked lake water samples illustrated its great potential for practical application.

Preparation of open‐tubular CEC column bonded with 6‐O‐monotosyl‐deoxy‐β‐cyclodextrin and its application in the enantioseparation of several related benzimidazoles

AbstractA new chiral open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column was prepared with 6‐O‐monotosyl‐deoxy‐β‐cyclodextrin as staionary phase by covalent immobilization on inner wall of a fused‐silica capillary. Preparation procedure of the open‐tubular column was investigated and resulting surface morphology was determined using scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, the enantiomeric separation performance of open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column was evaluated by using several related benzimidazoles as model analytes, including pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, omeprazole, and lansoprazole. The primary factors affecting its separation efficiency, such as type, concentration, and pH of buffer, applied voltage were optimized. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of four analytes revealed high resolutions of 5.75–8.83. The relative standard deviation values for the migrated times and resolutions of the model analyte representing intraday, interday, and column‐to‐column were less than 1.8 and 1.3%, respectively. The chiral open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column still had satisfactory separation performance after continuous use for 72 h or intermittent use for 3 months.

Preparation of a thiols β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles-coated open tubular column for capillary electrochromatography enantioseparations.

Inspired by the distinct chemical and physical properties of nanoparticles, here a novel open-tubular capillary electrochromatography column was prepared by electrostatic assembly of poly(diallydimethylammonium chloride) onto the inner surface of a fused-silica capillary, followed by self-adsorption of negatively charged SH-β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles. The formation of the SH-β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles coated capillary was confirmed and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. The results of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry studies indicated that SH-β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles were successfully coated on the inner wall of the capillary column. The performance of the SH-β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles coated capillary was validated by the analysis of six pairs of chiral drugs, namely zopiclone, carvedilol, salbutamol, terbutaline sulfate, phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride, and ibuprofen. Satisfactory enantioseparation results were achieved, confirming the use of gold nanoparticles as the support could enhance the phase ratio of the open-tubular capillary column. Additionally, the stability and reproducibility of the SH-β-cyclodextrin/gold nanoparticles coated capillary column were also investigated. Then, this proposed method was well validated with good linearity (≥0.999), recovery (90.0-93.5%) and repeatability, and was successfully used for enantioseparation of ibuprofen in spiked plasma samples, which indicated the new column's potential usage in biological analysis.

Separation of histidine enantiomers by capillary electrochromatography with molecularly imprinted monolithic columns

AbstractIn this study, we aimed to separate the enantiomeric forms of d,l‐histidine, one of the essential amino acids, through molecular imprinted monolithic capillary electrochromatography columns prepared using hydrophobic N‐methacryloyl‐(l)‐phenylalanine methyl ester as the functional monomer, and l‐histidine as the template molecule. We investigated the effect of monomer ratio, temperature, template molecule mole ratio, crosslinker ratio, and porogen ratio to improve the permeability properties of the monolithic column. Characterization studies of the column were evaluated by attenuated total reflectance‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. The chromatographic performance of the column was investigated using alkylbenzene‐derived compounds. We evaluated some parameters to determine the optimum conditions for electrochromatographic studies such as electric field, organic solvent ratio, and pressure effect. The calculated imprinting factor (2.18) proved that the l‐histidine imprinted amino acid‐based monolithic column separated d,l‐histidine molecules efficiently (percent relative standard deviation < 1.5) from each other using molecular imprinting technique with high‐resolution values (resolution value > 1.5). As a result, selective d,l‐histidine separation was achieved in less than 10 min at pH 7.0 without using a ligand or extra modification step for the first time.

Ionic liquid-copolymerized monolith based porous layer open tubular column for CEC-MS analysis

Developing novel capillary electrochromatography (CEC) column with high separation efficiency and capacity is an essential work in CEC. In this work, porous layer open tubular (PLOT) column has been developed by co-polymerization of quaternary ammonium typed ionic liquid (IL), 1-allyl-methylimidazolium chloride (AlMeIm+Cl−) with styrene (IL-styrene) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) for CEC-MS analysis. The PLOT-CEC column possesses high separation efficiency and capacity while keeping the inherent advantages of open tubular (OT) column unaltered, which is suitable for CEC analysis. Due to the uniform branch-like structure with large specific surface area, the IL-styrene based PLOT-CEC column showed excellent separation efficiency towards multiple kinds of analytes with theoretical plates up to N = 322,277 N/m for phloroglucinol. And thanks to the high permeability and large EOF mobility generated by positively charged ionic liquid, the PLOT-CEC column showed good performance in CEC-MS analysis of parabens, amino acids and peptides with stable separation and ESI spray. Good repeatability with relative standard deviations for intra-day, inter-day runs and between tubes less than 4.94% was obtained.

Incorporation of homochiral metal-organic cage into ionic liquid based monolithic column for capillary electrochromatography

Metal-organic cages (MOCs) are a novel kind of porous materials which have three dimensional structures with perpetual and well-defined holes. They have attracted wide consideration for relatively simple synthesis and potential applications such as separation, sensing, microreactor and catalysis etc. In this study, a homochiral MOC [Zn3L2] was prepared as a novel stereoselective stationary phase and added into poly (ionic liquid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) (Zn3L2@poly(IL-co-EDMA)) monolith for capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The chiral analytes comprising mandelic acid, benzoin and furoin enantiomer were separated perfectly using the monolithic column Zn3L2@poly(IL-co-EDMA), and the effects of buffer pH, acetonitrile percentage and buffer concentration on enantiomers separation were confirmed. Moreover, incorporation of MOC [Zn3L2] into IL polymer monolith strengthened obviously the stereoselective isolation of some positional isomers (such as nitrophenols, nitrotoluenes, xylenes, and ionones). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time for intra-day (n = 5) and inter-day (n = 3) and column-to-column (n = 3) enantioseparations were all below 5.0%. This novel monolithic column combined distinct features of the stereoselective materials with the eminent traits of ionic liquid matrix, it has great application potential in CEC.

Sol-gel technique for the preparation of β-cyclodextrin gold nanoparticles as chiral stationary phase in open-tubular capillary electrochromatography.

A novel open-tubular capillary electrochromatography column coated with β-cyclodextrin was prepared using the sol-gel technique. In the sol-gel approach, owing to the three-dimensional network of sol-gel and the strong chemical bond between the stationary phase and the surface of capillary columns, good chromatographic characteristics and unique selectivity in separating enantiomers were shown. The influences of capillary inner diameter, coating time, organic modifier, buffer pH, and buffer concentration on separation were investigated. The sol-gel-coated β-cyclodextrin column has shown improved enantioseparation efficiency of chlorphenamine, brompheniramine, pheniramine, zopiclone in comparison with the sol-gel matrix capillary column. The migration time relative standard deviation of the separation of the enantiomers was less than 0.89% over five runs and 2.9% from column to column. This work confirmed that gold nanoparticles are promising electrochromatographic support to enhance the phase ratio of open-tubular capillary electrochromatography column in capillary electrochromatography.

Ionic liquid-copolymerized monolith incorporated with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 as stationary phases for enhancing reversed phase selectivity in capillary electrochromatography

A novel ionic liquid (1-allyl-methylimidazolium chloride, AlMeIm+Cl−) polymer monolith poly(ionic liquid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) incorporated with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8-poly(IL-co-EDMA)) was firstly synthesized as stationary phases of monolithic column for capillary electrochromatography by one-step copolymerization. Incorporation of ZIF-8 into ionic liquid polymer monolith evidently enhanced the separation selectivity for four alkylbenzenes in reversed phase capillary electrochromatography (CEC), due to the synergistic effect derived from the same imidazole ring structure of ionic liquid and organic ligands of ZIF-8. Meanwhile, electroosmotic flow (EOF) was generated by ionic liquid in a wide range of pH values from 2.0 to 12.0. The resultant monolithic columns were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The results indicated that the prepared monolithic columns had good permeability and mechanism stability. The resultant monolithic columns were applied for the separation of neutral compounds, anilines and phenols. The highest column efficiency was 2.07 × 105 plates m−1 (theoretical plates, N) for toluene. Under optimal conditions, reproducibility was obtained with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time for run-to-run, day-to-day, column-to-column and batch-to-batch were in the range of 1.58 − 3.19%, 1.92 − 3.87%, 3.84 − 4.96% and 2.63 − 4.33%, respectively. Incorporation ZIF-8 into ionic liquid polymer monolith was a promising way for the application of new materials in the fabrication of novel monolithic columns.