Octadecylsilylated Porous Silica Rods as Separation Media for Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Continuous porous silica rods consisting of a mesoporous (pore size, 14 or 25 nm) silica skeleton of ∼1 μm size and through-pores of ∼1.7 μm were prepared and derivatized to C(18) phase by on-column reaction with octadecyldimethyl-(N,N-diethylamino)silane. The C(18) silica rods gave plate heights of 10-20 μm for aromatic hydrocarbons in 80% methanol and 20-40 μm for insulin in acetonitrile-water mixtures in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid. The performance of the silica rods was much better at a high flow rate than that of conventional columns packed with 5 μm C(18) silica particles having 12 and 30 nm pores, especially for high molecular weight species.