The major advantage of monolithic stationary phases compared to particle packed columns for liquid chromatography is that through-pore size and column porosity can be varied nonlinearly. This offers the potential to engineer columns that exhibit both high permeability and excellent chromatographic efficiency. To date, synthetic methods for organic polymer monoliths have not provided sufficient control of pore size distribution and monolith morphology to fully realize this potential. Better control of reaction conditions, such as temperature and time, as well as a rational approach to the selection of reagents and porogens, are important advances that are being made. The ability to correlate measurements of chromatographic efficiency and column permeability to qualitative and quantitative descriptors of monolith morphology, pore structure, and pore size distribution is critical. New methods using techniques such as capillary flow porometry and three-dimensional microscopy are beginning to provide this needed diagnostic information.

Award Address  (ACS Award in Separations Science and Technology sponsored by Waters Corporation). Engineering high performance polymer monoliths for capillary liquid chromatography

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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