Sol-gel germania triblock polymer coatings of exceptional pH stability in capillary microextraction online-coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography.
For the first time, a germania-based sol-gel coating was used in capillary microextraction (CME) in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A hydroxy-terminated triblock copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide), was covalently bonded into a sol-gel germania matrix in the course of its creation from an alkoxide precursor via hydrolytic polycondensation reactions. A thin layer of this in situ-created sol-gel hybrid material was covalently anchored to the inner walls of a 0.25 mm i.d. fused silica capillary to produce a sol-gel germania triblock polymeric sorbent in the form of a highly stable surface coating. Such a coating served as an effective extracting phase for the preconcentration of a wide range of polar and nonpolar analytes (e.g., alcohols, amines, ketones, phenols, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) with nanomolar and picomolar detection limits. Most significantly, the sol-gel germania triblock polymer coating demonstrated impressive resistance to extreme pH conditions, surviving 5 days of continuous exposure to 1.0 M HCl (pH approximately 0.0) or 1.0 M NaOH (pH approximately 14.0), practically without any changes in performance. This shows the suitability of sol-gel germania hybrid organic-inorganic hybrid materials for use as sorbents or stationary phases under extreme pH conditions, often needed in a variety of separation and sample preparation techniques and applications, including ion chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, proteomics, HPLC with electrochemical detection, isoelectric focusing, and extraction of acidic and basic analytes.
Segro
Scott S
SS
Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CHE 205, Tampa, Florida 33620-5250, USA.
Triplett
Judy
J
Malik
Abdul
A