Capillary electrochromatographic testing of monolithic silica columns synthesized according to an experimental design approach.

Monolithic silica capillary columns synthesized following a three-level design were evaluated for the electrochromatographic separation of acidic and neutral compounds. The influences of four factors in the sol-gel synthesis, i.e. the concentrations of tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS) and PEG in the starting mixture, the gelation temperature and the silanization modifying time, on the electrochromatographic performance of the resulting C18-silica capillary monoliths were studied. The considered responses were retention factor, resolution, symmetry factor, column efficiency, electrokinetic porosity and the equivalent length of the monolith. The four factors were varied to change the pore structure and the surface coverage with octadecyl moieties, resulting in nine stationary phases. The retentive properties of the columns were initially characterized with alkylbenzenes. Next, the separation for acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and its related compounds was optimized and used to evaluate the performance of the nine stationary phases considering six responses. A compromise between the different responses was found around higher concentrations of tetramethylorthosilicate and PEG with a lower gelation temperature and a modifying time of 2 h. Column efficiencies up to 96,000 plates/m and resolutions above 1.9 were obtained for the acetylsalicylic acid separation, with a sufficient EOF to yield rapid analysis, which showed improvements over the center-point stationary phase.

Pressure-assisted CEC versus CEC using methacrylate-based monolithic columns: influence of the polymerization-mixture composition.

Pressure-assisted CEC (pCEC) can either be performed on a CE instrument by adding pressure at the column inlet, or by applying voltage on a capillary liquid chromatography system. This study investigates the pressure's added value in pCEC using an LC instrument as well as the influence of the polymerization-mixture composition on monolithic columns in such experimental circumstances. Two factors of the polymerization mixture, which is used to prepare the monolithic capillary columns, were varied according to an experimental design approach: the pore-forming solvent/total monomer ratio and the pore-forming solvents composition. Initially, the effect of the resulting stationary phase on the elution behavior of mainly pharmaceutical compounds was studied. Four responses were used to evaluate the effects on the chromatography: retention time, retention factor, peak asymmetry and number of theoretical plates. After processing the results, the stationary phase composition with the best chromatographic behavior was determined and tested. The advantageous properties of this stationary phase compared with the design center-point column were demonstrated. Secondly, the results of these pCEC experiments were compared with those generated in an identical experimental setup previously performed using CEC. Chromatographic conditions were chosen so that the center-point column showed similar retention in CEC and pCEC. The expected advantage (faster analysis) and drawback (decreased efficiency) of pCEC in the analysis of pharmaceuticals was evaluated. Analysis time and efficiency were both found to depend greatly on the porosity of the column. The conclusion of this comparison is that pCEC did not have a significant added value to CEC. However, this was mainly due to the instrument's limitation of the pressure-driven flow over the column. A clear benefit of the pCEC setup was apparatus-related, i.e. the presence of a loop injection system on the pCEC instrument, which avoids the injection problems that were occasionally observed in CEC.

Influence of the polymerization-mixture composition for monolithic methacrylate-based columns on the electrochromatographic performance of drug molecules.

Methacrylate-based monolithic stationary phases were evaluated for the analysis of drug molecules using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) as separation technique. The effect of the polymerization-mixture composition on the retention behavior of a small test set of mainly drug molecules was studied. Two factors were varied in a central-composite design-based approach: the ratio between the pore-forming solvents and the monomers on one hand, and the ratio within the pore-forming solvents on the other hand, resulting in nine different stationary phases. The central point of the design was chosen at 70% (m/m) pore-forming solvents (PFS) of which 30% (m/m) is 1,4-butanediol, i.e. 21% of the total polymerization mixture. Experiments were conducted using both a basic (pH 11.5) and an acidic (pH 3) mobile phase. Retention times, retention factors, peak asymmetry and number of theoretical plates are the responses used to evaluate the performance of the resulting monoliths. The best compromise between the different responses was found around 67% PFS and 18% 1,4-butanediol (relative to the total mass), i.e. rather close to the center point. At these conditions, retention times were generally below 15min and retention factors below 5. Asymmetry values between close to 1 were found, and theoretical plate numbers up to 10,900, which were improvements compared to the central point of the design.

Evaluation of polymeric methacrylate-based monoliths in capillary electrochromatography for their potential to separate pharmaceutical compounds.

Polymeric methacrylate-based monoliths are evaluated in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) and pressurized capillary electrochromatography (p-CEC) for their potential in pharmaceutical analysis. Using a given polymerization mixture as a basis for the monolith synthesis, different mobile phase pH at constant organic modifier concentrations are tested in both CEC and p-CEC. The test set consists of basic, acidic, amphoteric, and neutral compounds, which are mainly pharmaceuticals. Because of the mainly hydrophobic character of the stationary phase, the interactions are largest when the compounds appear in an uncharged state, but some ion-exchange phenomena with negatively charged compounds can also be observed. In CEC, acidic substances are most retained at low pH. For amphoteric and neutral compounds, no preference regarding analyzing pH can be derived from these experiments. For basics, a high pH is chosen, but a reduced solvent strength is needed to enhance the retention of these compounds. The retention mechanism in p-CEC can also be assigned to both hydrophobic and ionic interactions. For acidic, amphoteric, and neutral compounds, acceptable retention is seen. For the basic compounds, the retention with a mobile phase containing 50% organic modifier is low, as in CEC. However, when the organic modifier content in the mobile phase is decreased, retention increases and the selectivity of the stationary phase is more pronounced. This mode of operation presents a possibility for separating some test mixtures, thus some potential for pharmaceutical analysis is seen. More efforts are needed to obtain higher efficiencies and better peak shapes, which might be solved by a further optimization of both the stationary phase synthesis and the mobile phase composition.