Preparation of Core–Shell Silica Microspheres with Controllable Shell Thickness for Fast High Performance Liquid Chromatography Separation of Alkyl Benzenes and Intact Proteins

Abstract

As it is difficult to prevent secondary nucleation and agglomeration during the preparation of core–shell silica microspheres, these issues have been successfully resolved in this study using template-dissolution-induced redeposition. The non-porous particles are transformed into core–shell silica microspheres (CSSMs) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and octyltrimethylammonium bromide under basic conditions. The shell thickness and pore sizes of the CSSMs are controlled by adjusting the etching time and molar ratio of the template, respectively. The CSSMs are modified using octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride to separate the mixture of alkyl benzenes, and a high column separation efficiency is achieved within two minutes. The CSSMs are used for the separation and analysis of proteins and the digests of bovine serum albumin. The chromatographic column packed with core–shell particles affords a significantly higher separation efficiency than the commercial column. Therefore, as a chromatographic stationary phase, these core–shell particles can potentially be used for the fast separation of proteins, small solutes, and complex samples.

Chromatographic Regulation by the Building Blocks for Triazine Polymer-Based Core–Shell Stationary Phases

“…On the other hand, the porous POP shell increases the surface area of silica and the interaction sites for analytes, thus leading to rapid mass transfer and multiple interaction sites beneficial for separation. Moreover, the thickness of the porous shell immensely affects retention and separation efficiency. , Qian et al dispersed spherical NH 2 -SiO 2 in the synthetic monomer of COF-300 to form the COF-300 shell on the SiO 2 surface after several layers of growth cycles. The regulation of the COF-300@SiO 2 shell thickness and HPLC separation performance can be achieved by changing the number of growth layers and enabling the separation of nitrophenol, nitroaniline, and aminophenol isomers .…”