ABSTRACT
A simple cladding procedure was developed to apply monolithic silica rods in chromatography. This was used to evaluate the performances of new monolithic silica phases synthesised using a triblock copolymer as a phase separation inducer. The cladding procedure is found efficient after several tests, including scanning electron microscopy and mercury porosimetry, and the obtained columns present a relatively good efficiency in adsorption chromatography (H min is about 50 µm) as compared to other lab-scale developed columns.
Subject(s)
Chromatography, Affinity/methods , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods , Silicon Dioxide/chemistry , Adsorption , Least-Squares Analysis , Mercury , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Permeability , Porosity , TemperatureABSTRACT
Silica-based monoliths with co-continuous structure were successfully prepared through a sol-gel process in the presence of a poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (F68). The triblock copolymer was compared to the classical PEG, in the formation of silica monoliths and was demonstrated to lead to co-continuous structures in a wider composition range, presenting smaller through pores. Moreover, mesoporous structures templated at the sol-gel transition were assumed to occur at the surface of the silica skeleton while PEG exhibited no mesopore templating.
