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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Low Molecular Weight Protein Enrichment on Mesoporous Silica Thin Films for Biomarker Discovery
Published on: April 17, 2012
Impact of pore structural parameters on column performance and resolution of reversed-phase monolithic silica columns
Romas Skudas1, Brian A Grimes, Egidijus Machtejevas
1Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg Universität-Mainz, Duesbergweg 10-14, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
Abstract:
In this work, monolithic silica columns with the C4, C8, and C18 chemistry and having various macropore diameters and two different mesopore diameters are studied to access the differences in the column efficiency under isocratic elution conditions and the resolution of selected peptide pairs under reversed-phase gradient elution conditions for the separation of peptides and proteins. The columns with the pore structural characteristics that provided the most efficient separations are then employed to optimize the conditions of a gradient separation of a model mixture of peptides and proteins based on surface chemistry, gradient time, volumetric flow rate, and acetonitrile concentration. Both the mesopore and macropore diameters of the monolithic column are decisive for the column efficiency. As the diameter of the through-pores decreases, the column efficiency increases. The large set of mesopores studied with a nominal diameter of approximately 25 nm provided the most efficient column performance. The efficiency of the monolithic silica columns increase with decreasing n-alkyl chain length in the sequence of C18
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