Novel open tubular CEC with tentacle-type polymer stationary phase functionalized by phenylalanine

A novel stationary phase with tentacle-type polymer chains with epoxy groups was fabricated for open tubular CEC. The fabrication procedure of the stationary phase included pretreatment of capillary inner wall, silanization, and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-grafted polymerization. The influence of initiator concentration and polymerization time on the resulting polymer stationary phase was studied by measuring EOF mobility and hydrophobicity of the prepared capillary column. SEM showed that the capillary inner wall was evenly coated with a polymer film showing a wrinkly surface. The prepared GMA-grafted stationary phase could be easily modified with different chromatographic ligands by the ring-opening reaction of the epoxy groups. In this study, phenylalanine (Phe) was selected as the ligand. Benzene derivatives and three amino acids were then separated, respectively, using the Phe modified tentacle-type capillary column. As a control, separations were also performed on a monolayer Phe-modified capillary. The tentacle-type polymer stationary phase was found affording stronger retention and better resolution in the separation of benzene derivatives and tryptophan, tyrosine, and Phe mixtures compared with the monolayer stationary phase.