Development of a new separation media using ultra-thin glassy carbon film modified silica

• Self-assembled polymer coating.
• Molecularly thin carbon surface.
• Good selectivity for polar and nonpolar compounds.

A self-polymerizable octatetrayne, 1,8-dialdehydebenzyl-1,3,5,7-octatetrayne, is synthesized and covalently attached to an amino-functionalized surface of silica particles. The silica particles with a monolayer coverage of octatetrayne were then thermally processed to various final temperatures of 200, 400 and 700 °C. The amino-functionalization, covalent attachment of octatetrayne and thermal process of silica particles were monitored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The thermally processed particles were then packed into a capillary column and evaluated as a stationary phase for HPLC. After chromatographic evaluation, the optimized temperature for thermal processing was determined to be 400 °C, which provides the best modified silica particles SiO2-OCT-T400 with an ultra-thin glassy carbon film coating. The linear solvation energy relationship model indicated that the primary contributors in retention are dispersion and H-bond basicity. The application of SiO2-OCT-T400 as a stationary phase was further demonstrated by successful separation of nonpolar hydrocarbons mixture and a nucleosides mixture.