Preparation and evaluation of monodispersed, submicron, non-porous silica particles functionalized with β-CD...

Submicron, non-porous, chiral silica stationary phase has been prepared by the immobilization of functionalized β-CD derivatives to isocyanate-modified silica via chemical reaction and applied to the pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC) enantio-separation of various chiral compounds. The submicron, non-porous, cyclodextrin-based chiral stationary phases (sub_μm-CSP2) exhibited excellent chiral recognition of a wide range of analytes including clenbuterol hydrochloride, mexiletine hydrochloride, chlorpheniramine maleate, esmolol hydrochloride, and metoprolol tartrate. The synthesized submicron particles were regularly spherical and uniformly non-porous with an average diameter of around 800 nm and a mean pore size of less than 2 nm. The synthesized chiral stationary phase was packed into 10 cm × 100 μm id capillary columns. The sub_μm-CSP2 column used in the pCEC system showed better separation of the racemates and at a higher rate compared to those used in the capillary liquid chromatography mode (cLC) system. The sub_μm-CSP2 possessed high mechanical strength, high stereoselectivity, and long lifespan, demonstrating rapid enantio-separation and good resolution of samples. The column provided an efficiency of up to 170,000 plates/m for n-propylbenzene.