Etched succinate-functionalized silica hydride stationary phase for open-tubular CEC

An open-tubular (OT) CEC column was designed to anchor ionizable succinate-functionalized ligands onto a silica hydride-based stationary phase through surface etching, silanization, and hydrosilation reactions beginning from a bare fused-silica tube. The modified columns that were produced in each step were monitored by analysis of the effect of performance of EOF on the changes of pH values, concentrations, and the amount of ACN added in the running buffers. By tracking the EOF patterns between columns, the author determined that the surface composition of the final product column was a combination of silanols, silica hydrides, and succinate ligands. Furthermore, lower loading volumes of the succinate ligands prepared for the hydrosilation reaction served to complete the mixed-mode OT-CEC columns, and subsequently to carry out the separation of six phenyl alcohols. Studies on the elution order of these alcohols identified the presence of chromatographic interactions in addition to electrophoresis. Based on the employment of a solvation parameter model, these interactions likely included dispersion interactions, dipole-type interactions, and interactions arising through the polarizable electrons in the solute. The optimum buffer conditions for CEC separations of phenyl alcohols, carbonyl-substituted phenols, and a mixture of nucleosides and thymine were a phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 10.51), a borate buffer (50 mM, pH 8.62), and a borate buffer (50 mM, pH 9.50), respectively. Overall, the hydride-based stationary phases with ionizable ligands were successfully applied to the OT-CEC separations, and these results confidently propose an ideal route to the synthesis of novel OT-CEC columns.