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Updated: Mar 10, 2026

Preparation of Polypentafluorophenyl acrylate Functionalized SiO2 Beads for Protein Purification
Published on: November 19, 2018
Adsorption of perfluorocarboxylic acids at the silica surface
Umer Shafique1, Vivien Dorn2, Albrecht Paschke3
1UFZ Department of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. gerrit.schuurmann@ufz.de and Institute for Organic Chemistry, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Leipziger Straße 29, 09596 Freiberg, Germany.
Abstract:
Water molecules may force the hydrophobic perfluoroalkyl chain of perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) to aggregate at hydrophobic siloxane patches ([triple bond, length as m-dash]Si-O-Si[triple bond, length as m-dash]) of the silica surface despite electrostatic repulsion between surface silanol ([triple bond, length as m-dash]SiO-) and the carboxylate (-COO-) headgroup of PFCA. Acidic pH and background cations promote the adsorption further by reducing the anion-anion Coulomb repulsion.

