One-pot preparation of an organic polymer monolith by thiol-ene click chemistry for capillary electrochromatography

A novel organic monolith was successfully fabricated by a one-pot thiol-ene click reaction of triallyl isocyanurate with pentaerythritol tetrakis-(2-mercaptoacetate) and mercaptopropionic acid in the presence of porogens. We investigated the effects of the ratio of monomer and cross-linking agent, the type and ratio of porogen, and click reaction temperature on the permeability and morphology of the prepared poly triallyl isocyanurate-co-pentaerythritol tetrakis (2-mercaptoacetate) monoliths. The monolith was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results indicated that the monoliths had continuous porous framework, good permeability, and high mechanical stability. A series of analytes with different properties such as alkylbenzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, anilines, and phenols were used to evaluate the electrochromatographic performance of the prepared monoliths in pressurized capillary electrochromatography. The prepared polymer monolith showed typical reversed-phase electrochromatographic behavior for hydrophobic substances. Moreover, the prepared monolith showed a mix of reversed-phase and cation exchange interaction modes for basic aniline compounds. The minimum plate height of the monolith was 8.76 μm (132 100 plates/m) for propylbenzene. These results demonstrated that one-pot thiol-ene click chemistry can provide a simple and reliable method for the preparation of organic monoliths.