Dipentaerythritol penta-/hexa-acrylate based-highly cross-linked hybrid monolithic column: Preparation and its applications for ultrahigh efficiency separation of proteins

•DPEPA based-highly cross-linked hybrid monolithic column was developed.•The new column exhibited ultrahigh column efficiency and excellent selectivity.•Intact proteins could be efficiently separated with minimum tailing peaks.•It was also proved to be suitable for separation of complex protein samples.

In this study, multi-acrylate based dipentaerythritol penta-/hexa-acrylate (DPEPA) was exploited for fabrication of highly cross-linked hybrid monolithic column by copolymerization with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane methacryl substituted (POSS-MA) via a “one-pot” method. The new DPEPA-POSS hybrid monolithic column was respectively characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement. When it was used for the separation of amides, thioureas and positional isomers of phenols, ultrahigh column efficiency separation (up to 511,000 N m−1) was achieved with excellent selectivity. Moreover, intact protein standards could be efficiently separated with minimum tailing peaks, outperforming the commercially available silica-based C8 column. Furthermore, successful separation of complex egg white proteins and expressed BARD1 BRCT domains protein sample was also achieved with good chromatographic performance. In the future work, the DPEPA-POSS hybrid monolithic column will be further exploited and applied in capillary electrochromatography as well as the top-down based proteome research.

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