Monolithic Polymer Columns

This section provides an overview of properties of polymer monolith columns related to 2D-HPLC. Monolithic organic polymer columns, having longer history than silica monoliths, have been reviewed in detail recently by S vec and by Eeltink including their preparation methods and performance (Eeltink et al., 2004 Svec, 2004a). Polymer monolith columns commercially available include polyfstyrene-co-di vinyl benzene) (PSDVB) columns and poly(alkyl methacrylate) columns. 

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Recent chromatographic data indicate that the interactions between the hydrophobic surface of a molded poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) monolith and solutes such as alkylbenzenes do not differ from those observed with beads under similar chromatographic conditions [67]. The average retention increase, which reflects the contribution of one methylene group to the overall retention of a particular solute, has a value of 1.42. This value is close to that published in the literature for typical polystyrene-based beads [115]. However, the efficiency of the monolithic polymer column is only about 13,000 plates/m for the isocratic separation of three alkylbenzenes. This value is much lower than the efficiencies of typical columns packed with small beads. 

Monolithic polymer columns are made from many different monomers with different polar groups, mainly acrylates and methacrylates, but only a limited number of these are commercially available. 

It is of much interest to compare polymer monoliths with monolithic silica columns for practical purposes of column selection. Methacrylate-based polymer monoliths have been evaluated extensively in comparison with silica monoliths (Moravcova et al., 2004). The methacrylate-based capillary columns were prepared from butyl methacrylate, ethylene dimethacrylate, in a porogenic mixture of water, 1-propanol, and 1,4-butanediol, and compared with commercial silica particulate and monolithic columns (Chromolith Performance). 

While only a few reports concern the in situ preparation of monolithic CEC columns from silica, much more has been done with porous polymer monoliths and a wide variety of approaches differing in both the chemistry of the monomers and the preparation technique is currently available. Obviously, free radical polymerization is easier to handle than the sol-gel transition accompanied by a large decrease in volume. 

Several approaches towards monolithic GC columns based on open pore foams prepared in large diameter glass tubes were reported in the early 1970s [26,27, 110]. However, these columns had poor efficiencies, and the foams possessed only limited sample capacities in the gas-solid GC mode. Subsequent experiments with polymerized polymer layer open tubular (PLOT) columns where the capillary had completely been filled with the polymer were assumed to be failures since the resulting stationary phase did not allow the gaseous mobile phase to flow [111]. 

FIGURE 1.1 Schematic representation of the structure and the morphology of a typical monolithic polymer prepared in an HPLC column housing as an unstirred mold. 

In situ (Latin for in the place ) polymerization means the fabrication of a polymer network directly in the finally desired shape and geometry. In the context of monolithic separation columns, the term in situ is referred to the polymerization in the confines of a HPLC column or a capillary as mold. 

Methacrylate monoliths have been fabricated by free radical polymerization of a number of different methacrylate monomers and cross-linkers [107,141-163], whose combination allowed the creation of monolithic columns with different chemical properties (RP [149-154], HIC [158], and HILIC [163]) and functionalities (lEX [141-153,161,162], IMAC [143], and bioreactors [159,160]). Unlike the fabrication of styrene monoliths, the copolymerization of methacrylate building blocks can be accomplished by thermal [141-148], photochemical [149-151,155,156], as well as chemical [154] initiation. In addition to HPLC, monolithic methacrylate supports have been subjected to numerous CEC applications [146-148,151]. Acrylate monoliths have been prepared by free radical polymerization of various acrylate monomers and cross-linkers [164-172]. Comparable to monolithic methacrylate supports, chemical [170], photochemical [164,169], as well as thermal [165-168,171,172] initiation techniques have been employed for fabrication. The application of acrylate polymer columns, however, is more focused on CEC than HPLC. 

Electroosmosis refers to the movement of the liquid adjacent to a charged snrface, in contact with a polar liquid, under the influence of an electric field applied parallel to the solid-liquid interface. The bulk fluid of liquid originated by this electrokinetic process is termed electroosmotic flow. It may be prodnced either in open or in packed or in monolithic capillary columns, as well as in planar electrophoretic systems employing a variety of snpports, such as paper or hydrophilic polymers. The origin of electroosmosis is the electrical donble layer generated at the plane of share between the snrface of either the planar support or the inner wall of the capillary tube and the surronnding solntion, as a consequence of the nneven distribntion of ions within the solid/liquid interface. 

Fig. 6.20. Schematics for the preparation of monolithic capillary columns. First, the bare capillary is filled with the polymerization mixture (step a) that contains functional monomer, crosslinking monomer, initiator, and porogenic solvent. Polymerization (step b) is then initiated thermally or by UV irradiation to afford a rigid monolithic porous polymer. The resulting monolith within the capillary is washed (step c) with the mobile phase using a pump or electroosmotic flow and used as for the CEC separations.

Mini-columns for analyte separation/concentration can also behave as reactors, resembling the packed bed reactor. In this context, organic polymer monoliths, largely used in the medical and biological fields [73], should be highlighted. Monolithic mini-columns consist of continuous beds with macropores and mesopores which are characterised by low back-pressure effects. These columns offer several other advantages [74], as emphasised in Chapter 8. In the context of flow analysis, monolithic mini-columns were implemented in a sequential injection analyser in 2003 [75] and the potential and limitations of the approach, called Sequential Injection Chromatography, were recently reviewed [76]. 

An integrated microfabricated system composed of a proteolytic reactor and chromatographic column with direct interface to ESl-MS was reported by Carlier et al. [133] The system is represented in Fig. 11 and was fabricated from SU-8. The chromatographic end of the chip was terminated with a nano-ESl interface. The digestion module was composed of trypsin covalently attached to a monolithic polymer, which was also used to prepare a hydrophobic stationary phase for the separation of peptides prior to MS analysis. Monoliths were made in situ by photopolymerizing ethylene glycoldimethacrylate (EDMA) monomers in the presence of lauryl methacrylate (LMA) or butyl methacrylate (BMA) crosslinkers. 

The main advantages of monolithic columns are the superior separation performance and low flow resistance. In addition due to their continuous nature, frits are not required to retain the stationary phase. The production process of monolithic columns is more flexible than that of packed columns e.g., photo-polymerization can be applied to prepare monolithic structures or add selectivity locally. Both polymer- and silica-based monolithic capillary columns have been used for highly efficient separations in LC-mass spectrometry (MS) applications for proteomic research [24,25]. 

Figure 4.8 Differential pore size distribution curves of porous polymer of monolithic capillary columns obtained by in situ polymerization of 40% ethylene dimethacrylate with 60% mixture of butyl methacrylate and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid in 10% water and 90% mixture of 1-propanol and 1,4-butanediol taken in various ratios mode pore diameter (1) 255, (2) 465, (3) 690, and (4) 1000 nm. Reprinted from [385] with permission of the American Chemical Society).

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