Nanochitosan crosslinked with polyacrylamide as the chiral stationary phase for open-tubular capillary...

Nanoparticles exhibiting favorable surface-to-volume ratios create efficient stationary phases for electrochromatography. New nanomaterials derived from chitosan (CS) were immobilized onto modified capillaries for use as the chiral stationary phase (CSP) in open-tubular electrochromatography. This immobilization was achieved through the copolymerization of glycidyl methacrylate-modified nano-CS with methacrylamide (MAA) and bis-acrylamide crosslinkers (forming the MAA-CS capillary) rather than the attachment of nano-CS to the copolymer of glycidyl methacrylate, MAA, and bis-acrylamide (forming the MAA+CS capillary). The completed MAA-CS capillary and its precursors were examined by SEM and ATR-IR measurements. Before separating chiral samples, the MAA-CS capillary was characterized by electroosmotic flow measurements at varying pH values, concentrations, and volume percentages of organic modifiers in the running buffers. Tryptophan enantiomers were well separated by the MAA-CS capillary, whereas no enantioselectivity was observed in the MAA+CS capillary. With the addition of 80% MeOH into the phosphate buffer, the chiral separation of (±)-catechin was accomplished in a normal-phase mode. However, the new CSP has its limitations, as only two groups of α-tocopherol stereoisomers were separated.