Silica gel-based monoliths prepared by the sol-gel method: facts and figures

There is a great deal of interest in continuous beds as stationary phases for both HPLC and CEC. There are various ways to prepare monoliths, by polymerization of organic species or by polymerization of silicon alkoxides. The former method has recently been reviewed, while silica based monoliths are now commercially available. The purpose of this paper is to deal with the problems associated with silica based monoliths. The most important problem is obviously the cracking and the shrinkage of the bed during drying. The second problem is monolith cladding. Much literature has been published but no definitive solution is available and thus a wide research area remains open. Monoliths are a compromise between loadability, permeability and mass transfer kinetics. Due to the better mass transfer properties of a monolithic skeleton over distinct particles, high flow rates and high speed separations are possible.