Preparation and characterization of poly(triallyl isocyanurate -co- trimethylolpropane triacrylate) monolith and its applications in the separation of small molecules by liquid chromatography

• A novel polymeric monolith was prepared by triallyl isocyanurate and trimethylolpropane triacrylate.
• The column was successfully used as the stationary phases of HPLC and CLC, respectively.
• Successfully separate the mixture of small molecules compounds by RP-HPLC.
• The column performed 124,348 theoretical plates per meter for p-xylene.

A new polymeric monolith was prepared in stainless-steel column and fused-silica capillary, respectively, by atom transfer radical polymerization technique. In the polymerization, triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) was used as the functional monomer; trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as the crosslinking agent; polyethylene glycol 200 and 1,2-propanediol as the co-porogens; carbon tetrachloride as the initiator and ferrous chloride as the catalyst. The conditions of polymerization were optimized. Morphology of the prepared poly(TAIC-co-TMPTA) monolith was investigated by scanning electron microscopy; pore properties were assayed by mercury porosimetry and nitrogen adsorption. The characterization indicated that the prepared reversed-phase monolith possessed uniform structure, good permeability and mechanical stability. The column was used as the stationary phase of reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and capillary liquid chromatography (CLC) to separate the mixture of aromatic compounds. The new column performed around 125,000 theoretical plates per meter. The column showed good reproducibility: the relative standard deviation values of the retention factor values for aromatic compounds were less than 1.52% (n = 7, column-to-column).