Highly crosslinked polymeric monoliths with various C6 functional groups for reversed-phase capillary liquid chromatography of small molecules

Three crosslinking monomers, i.e., 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate (HDDMA), cyclohexanediol dimethacrylate (CHDDMA) and 1,4-phenylene diacrylate (PHDA), were used to synthesize highly cross-linked monolithic capillary columns for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) of small molecules. Selection of porogen type and concentration was investigated in detail. Isocratic elution of alkylbenzenes at a flow rate of 300 nL/min was performed using HDDMA and CHDDMA monolithic columns. Gradient elution of alkylbenzenes using all three monolithic columns showed good separations. Optimized monoliths synthesized from all three crosslinking monomers possessed high permeabilities. Poly(HDDMA) monoliths demonstrated column efficiencies up to 86,000 plates/m. Column preparation of poly(HDDMA) monolithic columns was highly reproducible; the relative standard deviation (RSD) values (n = 3) for run-to-run and column-to-column were less than 0.26% and 0.70%, respectively, based on retention times of alkylbenzenes.