Fabrication of ZIF-8@SiO2 core-shell microspheres as the stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography

The unique features of high porosity, shape selectivity, and multiple active sites make metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) promising as novel stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, the wide particle size distribution and irregular shape of conventional MOFs lead to lower column efficiency of such MOF-packed columns. Herein, the fabrication of monodisperse MOF@SiO2 core-shell microspheres as the stationary phase for HPLC to overcome the above-mentioned problems is reported. Zeolitic imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF-8) was used as an example of MOFs due to its permanent porosity, uniform pore size, and exceptional chemical stability. Unique carboxyl-modified silica spheres were used as the support to grow the ZIF-8 shell. The fabricated monodisperse ZIF-8@SiO2 packed columns (5 cm long × 4.6 mm i.d.) show high column efficiency (23,000 plates m(-1) for bisphenol A) for the HPLC separation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (bisphenol A, β-estradiol, and p-(tert-octyl)phenol) and pesticides (thiamethoxam, hexaflumuron, chlorantraniliprole, and pymetrozine) within 7 min with good relative standard deviations for 11 replicate separations of the analytes (0.01-0.39, 0.65-1.7, 0.70-1.3, and 0.17-0.91% for retention time, peak area, peak height, and half peak width, respectively). The ZIF-8@SiO2 microspheres combine the advantages of the good column packing properties of the uniform monodisperse silica microspheres and the separation ability of the ZIF-8 crystals.