In-column “click” preparation of hydrophobic organic monolithic stationary phases for protein separation

On-column modification for the creation of temperature-responsive stationary phases

Temperature-responsive liquid chromatography (TRLC) offers an alternative for retention and selectivity optimisation in HPLC. This approach thereby exploits temperature gradients on stimuli-responsive stationary phases and forfeits the necessity for solvent gradients, allowing analyses to be performed using aqueous mobile phases. Consequently, it can be employed as a green alternative to reversed-phase separations. However, current production to obtain temperature-responsive columns inherently require dedicated column packing processes with polymer-modified particles. To facilitate the development of temperature-responsive phases, a flow-through modification procedure was developed allowing on-column modification of aminopropyl silica columns. Three columns were manufactured using this novel flow-through approach, which achieved identical column efficiencies compared to existing TRLC column. Demonstrating the possibility of bypassing the dedicated packing processes without losing efficiency. Additionally, it was observed that flow-through produced columns yielded higher retention at elevated temperatures despite their reduced carbon load. Further investigation of the carbon load revealed the presence of stationary phase gradients, whose influence was studied via novel developed retention experiments, which revealed a negligible change reduction in retention upon a change of polymer modification from 19.8% to 14.5%. However, further decrease from 14.5% to 12.3% resulted in a larger change. Interestingly, a further enhancement in apparent plate numbers was observed when operating the column under a reversed flow, yielding an increasing stationary phase gradient. This on-column modification procedure demonstrates the potential for modification of existing (commercial) packed columns to achieve temperature-responsive phases without loss of efficiency or retention. Thus, not only facilitating accessibility to temperature-responsive phases, but also aiding with development of further generations of temperature-responsive phases by removing the need for packing optimisation. Additionally, a novel experiment was set up to easily investigate the effect of inhomogeneous stationary phases retention.

Contribution of the "Click Chemistry" Toolbox for the Design, Synthesis, and Resulting Applications of Innovative and Efficient Separative Supports: Time for Assessment

The last two decades have seen the rapid expansion of click chemistry methodology in various domains closely related to organic chemistry. It has notably been widely developed in the area of surface chemistry, mainly because of the high-yielding character of reactions of the "click" type. Especially, this powerful chemical reaction toolbox has been adapted to the preparation of stationary phases from the corresponding chromatographic supports. A plethora of selectors can thus be immobilized on either organic, inorganic, or hybrid stationary phases that can be used in different chromatographic modes. This review first highlights the few different chemical ligation strategies of the "click" type that are up to now mainly devoted to the development of functionalized supports for separation sciences. Then, it gives in a second part an up-to-date survey of the different studies dedicated to the preparation of click chemistry-based chromatographic supports while highlighting the powerful and versatile character of the "click" ligation strategy for the design, synthesis, and developments of more and more complex systems that can find promising applications in the area of analytical sciences, in domains as varied as enantioselective separation, glycomics, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, etc.

Carboxyl-functionalized hybrid monolithic column prepared by "thiol-ene" click reaction for noninvasive speciation analysis of chromium with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

A novel carboxyl-functionalized hybrid monolithic column was developed based on "thiol-ene" click reaction via "one-pot" by choosing mercaptosuccinic acid, γ-methyl methacrylate trimethoxysilane and tetramethoxysilane as reaction monomers. The design of the hybrid monolithic column was assisted by the comparison in computational simulation with existing carboxyl-functionalized materials. The characterization by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, N₂ adsorption-desorption measurement, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analysis showed that the carboxyl-functionalized material has the advantages of good permeability and high mechanical strength. Then, we used the prepared carboxyl-hybrid monolith column as solid phase microextraction adsorbent for separation of trace inorganic chromium species. Under pH 4.5, the hybrid monolith column can selectively enrich Cr(III) without adsorbing Cr(VI) and afterwards, Cr(III) can be eluted by 1.0 mol L^-1 HCl. The chromium speciation separation method based on carboxyl-hybrid monolith column followed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry possessed the merits of facile preparation, low cost, simple and mild extraction condition, and sensitive detection, which has been successfully applied to the separation, enrichment and detection of inorganic chromium in environmental waters.

Various Strategies in Post-Polymerization Functionalization of Organic Polymer-Based Monoliths Used in Liquid Phase Separation Techniques

This review article is aimed at summarizing the various strategies that have been developed so far for post-polymerization functionalization (PPF) of organic polymer-based monoliths used in liquid phase separation techniques, namely HPLC at all scales and capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The reader will find the organic reactions performed on monolithic columns for grafting the chromatographic ligands needed for solving the separation problems on hand. This process involves therefore the fabrication of template monoliths that carry reactive functional groups to which chromatographic ligands can be covalently attached in a post-polymerization kind of approach. That is, the template monolith that has been optimized in terms of pore structure and other morphology can be readily modified and tailor made on column to fit a particular separation. The review article will not only cover the various strategies developed so far but also describe their separation applications. To the best of our knowledge, this review article will be the first of its kind.

Methacrylate Polymer Monoliths for Separation Applications

This review summarizes the development of methacrylate-based polymer monoliths for separation science applications. An introduction to monoliths is presented, followed by the preparation methods and characteristics specific to methacrylate monoliths. Both traditional chemical based syntheses and emerging additive manufacturing methods are presented along with an analysis of the different types of functional groups, which have been utilized with methacrylate monoliths. The role of methacrylate based porous materials in separation science in industrially important chemical and biological separations are discussed, with particular attention given to the most recent developments and challenges associated with these materials. While these monoliths have been shown to be useful for a wide variety of applications, there is still scope for exerting better control over the porous architectures and chemistries obtained from the different fabrication routes. Conclusions regarding this previous work are drawn and an outlook towards future challenges and potential developments in this vibrant research area are presented. Discussed in particular are the potential of additive manufacturing for the preparation of monolithic structures with pre-defined multi-scale porous morphologies and for the optimization of surface reactive chemistries.

Novel in-capillary polymeric monoliths arising from glycerol carbonate methacrylate for flow-through catalytic and chromatographic applications

In-capillary reactive polymer monoliths have been prepared from glycerol carbonate methacrylate functional monomer, suitably functionalized and further applied to separation science and flow-through catalysis, respectively.

One-pot synthesis of polymer monolithic column by combination of free radical polymerization and azide–alkyne cycloaddition “click” reaction and its application in capillary liquid chromatography

A facile “one-pot” method was developed for the preparation of polymer monoliths by combination of free radical polymerization and CuAAC click reaction.

Stationary phases for the enrichment of glycoproteins and glycopeptides

The analysis of protein glycosylation is important for biomedical and biopharmaceutical research. Recent advances in LC-MS analysis have enabled the identification of glycosylation sites, the characterisation of glycan structures and the identification and quantification of glycoproteins and glycopeptides. However, this type of analysis remains challenging due to the low abundance of glycopeptides in complex protein digests, the microheterogeneity at glycosylation sites, ion suppression effects and the competition for ionisation by co-eluting peptides. Specific sample preparation is necessary for comprehensive and site-specific glycosylation analyses using MS. Therefore, researchers continue to pursue new columns to broaden their applications. The current manuscript covers recent literature published from 2008 to 2013. The stationary phases containing various chemical bonding methods or ligands immobilisation strategies on solid supports that selectively enrich N-linked or sialylated N-glycopeptides are categorised with either physical or chemical modes of binding. These categories include lectin affinity, hydrophilic interactions, boronate affinity, titanium dioxide affinity, hydrazide chemistry and other separation techniques. This review should aid in better understanding the syntheses and physicochemical properties of each type of stationary phases for enriching glycoproteins and glycopeptides.

Click chemistry: a new facile and efficient strategy for the preparation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles covalently functionalized with IDA-Cu and their application in the depletion of abundant protein in blood samples

In this study, we report a novel method to synthesize core-shell structured Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) covalently functionalized with iminodiacetic acid (IDA) via click chemistry between the azide and alkyne groups and charged with Cu(2+). Firstly, the Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) NPs were obtained using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) to form a silica shell on the surface of the Fe(3)O(4) core. The azide group-modified Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) NPs were obtained by a sol-gel process using 3-azidopropyltriethoxysilane (AzPTES) as the silane agent. Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)-N(3) was directly reacted with N-propargyl iminodiacetic via click chemistry, in the presence of a Cu(I) catalyst, to acquire the IDA-modified Fe(3)O(4) NPs. Finally, through the addition of Cu(2+), the Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)-IDA-Cu NP product was obtained. The morphology, structure and composition of the NPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The resulting NPs showed a strong magnetic response to an externally applied magnetic field, a high adsorption capacity and excellent specificity towards hemoglobin (Hb). In addition, the Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)-IDA-Cu NPs can be used for the selective removal of abundant Hb protein in bovine and human blood samples.