Porous packing systems, separation

HOPC uses a column packed with porous materials that have a pore diameter close to a dimension of the solvated polymer to separate. A concentrated solution of the polymer is injected into the solvent-imbibed column by a high-pressure liquid pump until the polymer is detected at the column outlet. The injection is then switched to the pure solvent, and the eluent is fractionated. A schematic of an HOPC system is illustrated in Fig. 23.1. A large volume injection of a concentrated solution makes HOPC different from conventional SEC. 

Porous packed systems represent in addition to the hydrodynamic effect, the possibility for separation due to size-related exclusion of particles from the pores, essentially LEG. In this section a brief overview of some of o ir more recent results pertaining to the question of pore size distribution effects will be given, fore detailed discussions are presented elsewhere (23>2U). 

Figure 2.54 illustrates the separation system. A high-pressure liquid pump draws a solvent called a mobile phase from the reservoir and pumps it into a column or a series of columns at a constant flow rate. At one time, a small amount of a dilute solution of polymer dissolved in the same solvent is injected into the stream from a sample loop by changing the position of the injection valve. The column is packed with porous materials, typically polymeric beads with many tiny through holes (pores). 

It is clear that the separation ratio is simply the ratio of the distribution coefficients of the two solutes, which only depend on the operating temperature and the nature of the two phases. More importantly, they are independent of the mobile phase flow rate and the phase ratio of the column. This means, for example, that the same separation ratios will be obtained for two solutes chromatographed on either a packed column or a capillary column, providing the temperature is the same and the same phase system is employed. This does, however, assume that there are no exclusion effects from the support or stationary phase. If the support or stationary phase is porous, as, for example, silica gel or silica gel based materials, and a pair of solutes differ in size, then the stationary phase available to one solute may not be available to the other. In which case, unless both stationary phases have exactly the same pore distribution, if separated on another column, the separation ratios may not be the same, even if the same phase system and temperature are employed. This will become more evident when the measurement of dead volume is discussed and the importance of pore distribution is considered. 

The way in which the active microzone is retained also depends on its relationship to the detector (Fig. 2.6) and the type of interaction with the analyte or its reaction product. If the microzone is an integral part of the probe, an additional support (usually a membrane) is often required, so contact with the sample is hindered to some extent. On the other hand, a microzone located in a flow-cell can be retained in various ways. Thus, if the microzone consists of a porous solid or particle, the flow-cell is simply packed with two filters in order to avoid washing out (e.g. see [21]). Too finely divided solids (viz. particle sizes below 30-40 pm) should be avoided as they require pressures above atmospheric level, which complicates system design and precludes use of microzones with a high specific surface. Placing a separation membrane in a flow-cell is... 

Several different analytical and ultra-micropreparative CEC approaches have been described for such peptide separations. For example, open tubular (OT-CEC) methods have been used 290-294 with etched fused silicas to increase the surface area with diols or octadecyl chains then bonded to the surface.1 With such OT-CEC systems, the peptide-ligand interactions of, for example, angiotensin I-III increased with increasing hydrophobicity of the bonded phase on the capillary wall. Porous layer open tubular (PLOT) capillaries coated with anionic polymers 295 or poly(aspartic acid) 296 have also been employed 297 to separate basic peptides on the inner wall of fused silica capillaries of 20 pm i.d. When the same eluent conditions were employed, superior performance was observed for these PLOT capillaries compared to the corresponding capillary zone electrophoresis (HP-CZE) separation. Peptide mixtures can be analyzed 298-300 with OT-CEC systems based on octyl-bonded fused silica capillaries that have been coated with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APS), as well as with pressurized CEC (pCEC) packed with particles of similar surface chemistry, to decrease the electrostatic interactions between the solute and the surface, coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS). In the pressurized flow version of electrochromatography, a pLC pump is also employed (Figure 26) to facilitate liquid flow, reduce bubble formation, and to fine-tune the selectivity of the separation of the peptide mixture. 

Hydrocarbons containing two and three carbons are generally separated on packed columns. Chemically bonded materials such as n-octane or phenyl isocyanate on Porasil have proven to be good separator systems for these highly volatile nonmethane hydrocarbons. However, these systems require a separate analysis from that employed for the C4-C12 hydrocarbons (7). Recent developments include the use of capillary-type columns [e.g., Al203 porous layer open tubular (PLOT)] for separation of the lower molecular weight hydrocarbons (8). 

Preparative separations in the grams per injection level are different. Separations are run isocratic in 1- to 3-in columns with large pore, fully porous packings (35-60jUm). An analytical, two-pump system can just barely reach the 20-mL/min flow rates needed to run a 1-in column. Special preparative HPLC systems deliver flow rates of 50-500 mL/min to handle the larger bore columns. A stream splitter is used to send part of the flow through a refractive index detector with a flow cell designed for concentrated solutions. 

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