Monolithic stationary phases with incorporated fumed silica nanoparticles. Part II. Polymethacrylate-based monolithic column with “covalently” incorporated modified octadecyl fumed silica nanoparticles for reversed-phase chromatography

• A hybrid monolithic column was prepared via the copolymerization of methacryloyl fumed silica nanoparticle (MFSNP), glyceryl monomethacrylate (GMM) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA).
• The poly(GMM-EDMA-MFSNP) was grafted with octadecyl ligands yielding a hybrid nonpolar column.
• The nonpolar hybrid monolithic column proved useful in RPC separations neutral and slightly basic compounds as well as proteins.

This study is concerned with the incorporation of surface modified fumed silica nanoparticles (FSNPs) into polymethacrylate based monolithic columns for use in reversed phase chromatography (RPC) of small solutes and proteins. First, FSNPs were modified with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate (TMSPM) to yield the “hybrid” methacryloyl fumed silica nanoparticle (MFSNP) monomer. The resulting MFSNP was then mixed with glyceryl monomethacrylate (GMM) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) in a binary porogenic solvent composed of cyclohexanol and dodecanol, and the in situ copolymerization of MFSNP, GMM and EDMA was performed in a stainless steel column of 4.6 mm i.d. The silanol groups of the hybrid monolith thus obtained were grafted with octadecyl ligands by perfusing the hybrid monolithic column with a solution of 4% w/v of dimethyloctadecylchlorosilane (DODCS) in toluene while the column was maintained at 110 °C for 6 h (in a heated HPLC oven). One of the originalities of this study was to demonstrate MFSNP as a novel derivatized “hybrid monomer” in making RPC monolithic columns with surface bound octadecyl ligands. In this respect, the RPC behavior of the monolithic column with “covalently” incorporated FNSPs having surface grafted octadecyl ligands was evaluated with alkylbenzenes, aniline derivatives and phenolic compounds. The results showed that the hybrid poly(GMA-EDMA-MFSNP) having surface bound octadecyl ligands exhibited hydrophobic interactions under reversed phase elution conditions. Furthermore, six standard proteins were baseline separated on the column using a 10 min linear gradient elution at increasing ACN concentration in the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min using a 10 cm × 4.6 mm i.d. column. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for the retention times of the tested solutes were lower than 2.1% and 2.4% under isocratic elution and gradient elution conditions, respectively.