A dextran-bonded stationary phase for saccharide separation

• Dextran-bonded silica was synthesized as saccharide-based HILIC stationary phase.
• It was prepared with a simple bonding method.
• It showed good hydrophilicity, selectivity for oligosaccharides separation.
• It exhibited high enrichment selectivity for glycopeptides.

A-saccharide-based stationary phase for hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is presented. The method uses carbonyl di-imidazole (CDI) as a cross-linker for dextran in aqueous solution. Different from the traditional immobilized saccharide stationary phase, this method was using a simple way to bond the high molecular of polysaccharide immobilized on the silica gel. The new method avoided the time-consuming process but had a very considerable loading result. With silica-based surface bonded, it will be possible to develop well-defined surface modifications that promote the hydrophilic with dextran and high mechanical strength with silica. For all tested compounds, including polar compounds and carbohydrates, this dextran-bonded stationary phase performed well in terms of separation efficiency and column stability, and the retention mechanism matched that of typical HILIC retention. Moreover, good selectivity was achieved in the separation of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides.