Hiroyoshi Minakuchi

Octadecylsilylated porous silica rods as separation media for reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

Continuous porous silica rods consisting of a mesoporous (pore size, 14 or 25 nm) silica skeleton of ∼1 μm size and through-pores of ∼1.7 μm were prepared and derivatized to C(18) phase by on-column reaction with octadecyldimethyl-(N,N-diethylamino)silane. The C(18) silica rods gave plate heights of 10-20 μm for aromatic hydrocarbons in 80% methanol and 20-40 μm for insulin in acetonitrile-water mixtures in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid. The performance of the silica rods was much better at a high flow rate than that of conventional columns packed with 5 μm C(18) silica particles having 12 and 30 nm pores, especially for high molecular weight species.

Monolithic silica columns for high-efficiency chromatographic separations

Studies on the structural and chromatographic properties of monolithic silica columns were reviewed. Monolithic silica columns prepared from tetraalkoxysilane by a sol-gel method showed high efficiency and high permeability on the basis of the small-sized silica skeletons, large-sized through-pores, and resulting through-pore size/skeleton size ratios much larger than those found in a particle-packed column.

Monolithic silica columns for HPLC, micro-HPLC, and CEC

Two types of monolithic silica columns derivatized to form an ODS phase, one prepared in a fused silica capillary (SR-FS) and the other prepared in a mold and clad with an engineering plastic (poly-ether-ether-ketone) (SR-PEEK), were evaluated. The column efficiency and pressure drop were compared with those of a column packed with 5-μm ODS-silica particles and of an ODS-silica monolith prepared in a mold and wrapped with PTFE tubing (SR-PTFE). SR-FS gave a lower pressure drop than a column packed with 5-μm particles by a factor of 20, and a plate height of 20 μm at a linear velocity below 1 mm/s. SR-PEEK showed higher flow-resistance than the other monolithic silica columns, but they still showed a minimum plate height of 8-10 μm and a lower pressure drop than popular commercial columns packed with 5-μm particles. The evaluation of SR-FS columns in a CEC mode showed much higher efficiency than in a pressure-driven mode.

Monolithic silica columns with various skeleton sizes and through-pore sizes for capillary liquid chromatography

Reduction of through-pore size and skeleton size of a monolithic silica column was attempted to provide high separation efficiency in a short time. Monolithic silica columns were prepared to have various sizes of skeletons (approximately 1-2 microm) and through-pores (approximately 2-8 microm) in a fused-silica capillary (50-200 microm I.D.). The columns were evaluated in HPLC after derivatization to C18 phase. It was possible to prepare monolithic silica structures in capillaries of up to 200 microm I.D. from a mixture of tetramethoxysilane and methyltrimethoxysilane. As expected, a monolithic silica column with smaller domain size showed higher column efficiency and higher pressure drop. High external porosity (> 80%) and large through-pores resulted in high permeability (K = 8 x 10(-14) -1.3 x 10(-12) m2) that was 2-30 times higher than that of a column packed with 5-mirom silica particles. The monolithic silica columns prepared in capillaries produced a plate height of about 8-12 microm with an 80% aqueous acetonitrile mobile phase at a linear velocity of 1 mm/s. Separation impedance, E, was found to be as low as 100 under optimum conditions, a value about an order of magnitude lower than reported for conventional columns packed with 5-microm particles. Although a column with smaller domain size generally resulted in higher separation impedance and the lower total performance, the monolithic silica columns showed performance beyond the limit of conventional particle-packed columns under pressure-driven conditions.

Monolithic silica columns for high-efficiency separations by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Generation of a large number of theoretical plates was attempted by capillary HPLC. Monolithic silica columns having small skeletons (ca. 2 microm) and large through-pores (ca. 8 microm) were prepared by a sol-gel method in a fused-silica capillary (50 microm I.D.), and derivatized to C18 phase by on-column reaction. High external porosity (>80%) and large through-pores resulted in high permeability (K= 1.2 x 10(-2) m2). The monolithic silica column in the capillary produced a plate height of about 12 microm in 80% acetonitrile at a linear velocity of 1 mm/s. Separation impedance, E value, was found to be as low as 200, that was about an order of magnitude lower than reported values for conventional columns packed with 5 microm particles. Reproducibility of preparation within +/- 15% was obtained for column efficiency and for pressure drop. It was possible to generate 100,000 plates by using a 130-cm column at very low pressure (<7 kg/cm2). A considerable decrease in column efficiency was observed at high linear velocity, and for solutes with large retention factors due to the slow mobile-phase mass transfer in the large through-pores. The monolithic silica columns, however, showed performance beyond the limit of conventional particle-packed columns in HPLC under favorable conditions.

SilicaROD™ — A new challenge in fast high-performance liquid chromatography separations

Abstract High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has become one of the most used methods for the analysis of compound mixtures in industry, especially for the quality control of products. Nowadays productivity is the major and dominant upcoming issue, i.e. the goal is to drastically reduce the analysis time and cost per analysis. The solution of the task is higher throughput and faster HPLC methods. Here we describe a new monolithic type of HPLC column, the SilicaROD™ column, which permits the fast HPLC separation of compound mixtures within a few minutes.

Performance of an octadecylsilylated continuous porous silica column in polypeptide separations

Abstract A continuous porous silica rod column prepared by an alkoxy-derived sol-gel method in the presence of a water-soluble organic polymer was tested in the reversed-phase acetonitrile–water linear gradient elution of polypeptides with molecular masses of up to 80 000. The silica rod having the through-pore size of 1.1 μm and silica skeleton size of 0.7 μm with mesopore size of 26 nm was used. The gradient time and the linear velocity of the mobile phase were varied and the resolution was examined in terms of peak capacity. The resolution with the silica rod was less affected by the gradient steepness and the mobile phase velocity. The results indicate that the silica rod column could reduce the separation time by a factor of 3 or more compared to the conventional column packed with 5 μm silica particles.

Monolithic silica column for in-tube solid-phase microextraction coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography.

In-tube solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has successfully been coupled to capillary LC, and further an automated in-tube SPME system has been developed using a commercially available HPLC auto-sampler. However, an open tubular capillary column with a thick film of polymer (stationary phase) is unfavorable because the ratio of the surface area of coating layer contacted with sample solution to the volume of the capillary column is insufficient for mass transfer. A highly efficient SPME column is. therefore, required. We introduced a C18-bonded monolithic capillary column that was used for in-tube SPME. The column consisted of continuous porous silica having a double-pore structure. Both the through-pore and the meso-pore were optimized for in-tube SPME, and the optimized capillary column was connected to an HPLC injection valve for characterization. The results demonstrated that the pre-concentration efficiency is excellent compared with the conventional in-tube SPME. The novel method for both introduction and concentration of the samples was effective. satisfactory and suitable for use in the SPME medium.

Chromatographic characterization of macroporous monolithic silica prepared via sol-gel process

Abstract A continuous porous silica monolith prepared by the sol-gel process including phase separation was aged in a basic solvent making use of hydrolysis of urea to prepare extended mesopore structures for chromatographic applications. The dissolution–reprecipitation kinetics at the interfaces between wet gel skeletons and an external solvent affected the size and volume of pores formed within the skeletons. At above 200°C, the pore size attained the macropore dimensions (>50 nm). The results of chromatography indicate that the monolithic silica column with wide mesopore could reduce the separation time compared to the conventional column packed with 5 μm silica particle.

Efficiency of short, small-diameter columns for reversed-phase liquid chromatography under practical operating conditions

Prototype small-size (1.0mm I.D., 5cm long) columns for reversed-phase HPLC were evaluated in relation to instrument requirements. The performance of three types of columns, monolithic silica and particulate silica (2μm, totally porous and 2.6μm, core-shell particles) was studied in the presence of considerable or minimal extra-column effects, while the detector contribution to band broadening was minimized by employing a small size UV-detector cell (6- or 90nL). A micro-LC instrument having small system volume (<1μL) provided extra-column band variance of only 0.01-0.02μL(2). The three columns generated about 8500 theoretical plates for solutes with retention factor, k>1-3 (depending on the column), in acetonitrile/water mobile phase (65/35=vol/vol) at 0.05mL/min, with the instrument specified above. The column efficiency was lower by up to 30% than that observed with a 2.1mm I.D. commercial column. The small-size columns also provided 8000-8500 theoretical plates for well retained solutes with a commercial ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) instrument when extra-column contributions were minimized. While a significant extra-column effect was observed for early eluting solutes (k<2-4, depending on column) with methanol/water (20/80=vol/vol) as weak-wash solvent, the use of methanol/water=50/50 as wash solvent affected the column efficiency for most analytes. The results suggest that the band compression effect by the weak-wash solvent associated with partial-loop injection may provide a practical means to reducing the extra-column effect for small-size columns, while the use of an instrument with minimum extra-column effect is highly desirable.