A polar-copolymerized method to prepare silica-based anion exchanger for ion chromatography

A novel silica-based strong anion exchanger was developed for ion chromatography by copolymerizing methyltrichlorosilane and 3-chloropropyltrichlorosilane. The method allows the column capacity to be easy control simply by adjusting the ratio of silanes. The unwanted residual silanol groups onto the surface of silica gel could also be greatly reduced by this strategy. The effective column capacity of the column used was measured to be 50.8 μequiv/column (2.03 μequiv/cm). The exchanger was characterized by solid state CP/MAS 13C NMR and elemental analysis and its separation performance was evaluated for the separation of common inorganic anions. The results showed that the column had good separation efficiency (e.g. the plate number of nitrite is 80,000/m) and the separation mechanism was observed to be dominantly governed by ion exchange mechanism. The utility of the column was demonstrated for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in saliva sample.