Silica/polymer coatings

Numerous applications of polymer-coated silicas to chromatography of biopolymers allow one to conclude that adsorbed or grafted hydrophilic nonionizing... 

It has been outlined by several authors that the single macromolecule may be irreversibly bound because of the large number of weakly interacting segments. The first papers on the construction of polymer-coated silica adsorbents involved the physical adsorption of water-soluble polymers. Polyethylene oxides [28, 29] and poly-/V-vinylpyrrolidone [30] are examples of the stationary phases of this type. 

The drawback of the described adsorbents is the leakage of the bonded phase that may occur after the change of eluent or temperature of operation when the equilibrium of the polymer adsorption is disturbed. In order to prepare a more stable support Dulout et al. [31] introduced the treatment of porous silica with PEO, poly-lV-vinylpyrrolidone or polyvinylalcohol solution followed by a second treatment with an aqueous solution of a protein whose molecular weight was lower than that of the proteins to be separated. Possibly, displacement of the weakly adsorbed coils by the stronger interacting proteins produce an additional shrouding of the polymer-coated supports. After the weakly adsorbed portion was replaced, the stability of the mixed adsorption layer was higher. 

Naphthalenedisulfonate-acetonitrile as the only mobile phase with a silica column coated with a crosslinked aminofluorocarbon polymer has proven to be an effective combination for the separation of aliphatic anionic surfactants. Indirect conductivity and photometric detection modes are used to monitor these analytes. The retention of these surfactants is found to depend on both the ionic strength and the organic solvent content of the mobile phase. The mechanism of retention is considered to be a combination of both reverse phase and ion exchange processes. Selective separation of both alkanesulfonates and... 

Solid phase micro extraction (SPME) is a techniques in which a silica fiber coated with a thin film of polymer is brought into contact with an aqueous matrix where the organics in solution partition onto the fiber. The fiber is subsequently placed into the injector of a GC where the heat causes the release of analyte onto the column. This has been applied to endosulfan (a- and (3-) and endosulfan sulfate in water with limits of detection of less than 0.3 pg/L reported (Magdic and Pawliszyn 1996). 

Lord and Pawliszyn" developed a related technique called in-tube SPME in which analytes partition into a polymer coated on the inside of a fused-silica capillary. In automated SPME/HPLC the sample is injected directly into the SPME tube and the analyte is selectively eluted with either the mobile phase or a desorption solution of choice. A mixture of six phenylurea pesticides and eight carbamate pesticides was analyzed using this technique. Lee etal. utilized a novel technique of diazomethane gas-phase methylation post-SPE for the determination of acidic herbicides in water, and Nilsson et al. used SPME post-derivatization to extract benzyl ester herbicides. The successful analysis of volatile analytes indicates a potential for the analysis of fumigant pesticides such as formaldehyde, methyl bromide and phosphine. 

The SPME process, adapted for solid or viscous matrix, is shown in Figure 10.1. A fused silica fibre, coated with a polymer, is installed inside a stainless steel hollow needle. In the first step, the needle is introduced in the sample vial through the septum. The fibre is then exposed to the headspace above the sample and the organic analytes adsorb to the coating of the fibre. After a variable sampling time, the fibre is drawn into the needle and the needle is withdrawn from the sample vial. Finally, in the same way, the fibre is introduced into the chromatograph injector where the analytes are thermally desorbed. 

An optically active polymethacrylate (2) having a binaphthol moiety in the side chain was synthesized by radical polymerization. This polymer coated on silica gel resolved several racemates.50 However, no data on the influence of the stereoregularity of the main chain on resolution have been reported. The chiral recognition by this polymer may simply arise from the binaphthyl group. 

To improve chromatographic separation, another analytical column could be used in addition to the monolith (Xu et al. 2006). The monolith column served as an extraction column only. Hsieh et al. (2000, 2002) utilized a polymer-coated mixed function (PCMF) Capcell C8 column (4.6 x 50 mm, Phenomenex) to provide dual functions—online plasma extraction and analyte separation. The silica was coated with a polymer containing both hydrophilic polyoxythylene and hydrophobic groups. The diluted plasma samples (1 1 to 1 3) were injected directly. No column deterioration was observed after 200 injections. 

The efficacy of CE separation depends considerably on the type of capillary. Fused-silica capillaries without pretreatment are used most frequently. Its outside is coated with a polymer layer to make it flexible and to lessen the occurrence of breakage. The polymer coating has to be dissolved with acid or burned away at the detection point. Capillaries with an optically transparent outer coating have also found application in CE. The objectives of the development of chemically modified capillary walls were the elimination of electro-osmotic flow and the prevention of adsorption on the inner wall of the capillary. Another method to prevent the adsorption of cationic analyses and proteins is the use of mobile phase additives. The modification of the pH of the buffer, the addition of salts, amines and polymers have all been successfully employed for the improvement of separation. 

Structure EANPS = electrostatic agglomerated nonporous substrate, EAWPS = electrostatic agglomerated wide-pore substrate, PGPS = polymer grafted porous substrate, SMPSS = silane modified porous silica substrate, CMS = chemically modified substrate, APCS = adsorbed polymer coated substrate. 

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) has been shown to be useful for the determination of chloroform in air (Chai and Pawliszyn 1995). This technique is based upon the absorption of chloroform into a polymer coated on a silica liber. Following equilibration of the liber with the atmosphere, chloroform is released via thermal desorption in the injection port of a gas chromatograph. Sample preparation is... 

In contrast, the use, in chromatography, of poly(trityl methacrylate) appears much more promising. Both the insoluble polymer and macroporous silica gel coated with a soluble polymer have been used. The latter system gives better results, especially with regard to elution time. The columns have proved quite efficient in resolution of a great variety of chiral organic compounds (365, 388). Other examples of usefiil chiral polymer supports are the substituted polyacrylamides (389). Earlier used adsorbents obtained by reacting optically active amines with polyacryloyl chloride have been superseded by new chiral phases prepared by direct polymerization of optically active acrylamides. 

One disadvantage of all silica-based stationary phases is their instability against hydrolysis. At neutral pH and room temperature the saturation concentration of silicate in water amounts to lOOppm. Solubility increases with surface area, decreasing particle diameter drastically with pH above 7.5. This leads also to a reduction of the carbon content. Hydrolysis can be recognized during the use of columns by a loss in efficiency and/or loss of retention. Bulky silanes [32], polymer coating [33], or polymeric encapsulation [34] have been used in the preparation of bonded phases to reduce hydrolytic instability, but most of the RPs in use are prepared in the classical way, by surface silanization. Figure 2.3 schematically shows these different types of stationary phases. 

For silica, the plasma-pyrrole coating clearly improves the compatibihty of the silica in the polymer blend. In contrast to this, the plasma-acetylene and plasma-thiophene treatments cause a high filler-filler interaction. This can be explained by the differences in compatibility between the plasma coatings and the polymers. In the case of PA-silica, the coating results in a higher compatibility towards EPDM in the blend, which could lead to an overconcentration of silica in the EPDM phase, with increased agglomeration of the filler. 

SPME uses a polymer-coated fused-silica fiber, typically 1 cm 100 m, that is fastened into the end of a fine stainless steel tube contained in a syringelike device and protected by an outer stainless steel needle. In use, the plunger of the device is depressed to expose the fiber to the sample matrix so that the organic compounds to be sorbed onto the fiber. The plunger is retracted at the end of the sampling time, and then it is depressed again to expose the fiber to a desorption interface for analysis typically by GC or LC. In a recent variation of this technique, the so-called in-tube SPME, the polymer is not coated on a fiber but on the inside of a fused-silica capillary before analysis by LC. 

Besides the above differentiation, restricted-access media can be further subdivided on the basis of the topochemistry of the bonded phase. Packings with a uniform surface topochemistry show a homogenous ligand coverage, whereas packings with a dual topochemistry show a different chemical modification of the pore internal surface and the particle external surface (114). Restricted-access media of the former type are divided into mixed-mode and mixed-function phases, bonded-micellar phases, biomatrix, binary-layered phases, shielded hydrophobic phases, and polymer-coated mixed-function phases. Restricted-access media of the latter type include the Pinkerton s internal surface reversed-phase, Haginaka s internal surface reversed-phase diol, alkyl-diol silica, Kimata s restricted-access media, dual-zone phase, tris-modified Styrosorb, Svec s restricted-access media, diphil sorbents, Ultrabiosep phases. Bio Trap phases, and semipermeable surface phases. 

Headspace SPME is a solventless extraction method where a silica fiber coated with adsorbant or absorbant polymer material is exposed to a gas phase to extract analytes. The food of interest is placed in a closed or open container (such as a mouth simulator). After extraction, the fiber is desorbed in a GC injection port for separation and detection of the extracted analytes. 

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