Preparation of Polymer-Based Amino Acid Stationary Phase and Its Application for Mixed-Mode Chromatography

Polymer microspheres have received attention because of their excellent properties. In this work, a polymer matrix zwitterionic amino acid stationary phase was prepared. Polyglycidyl methacrylate divinylbenzene (PGMA-DVB) microspheres was used as the matrix and successful modification with L-phenylalanine by ring-opening reaction of epoxy groups on the surface of PGMA-DVB microsphere matrix. The stationary phase was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectra, and elemental analysis. The phenylalanine-modified stationary phase was used in RPLC/HILIC mixed-mode chromatography for the separation of alkylbenzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, nucleosides and nucleic acids and etc. as probes, respectively. The good spatial selectivity of the stationary phase was demonstrated by the separation of biphenyl isomers. The prepared stationary phase showed good stability in alkaline condition (pH = 10) and low swelling in organic solvent mobile phase. Meanwhile, the stationary phase also showed good performance in the separation of different vitamins (Rs > 5.3), and the separation and detection of PAHs in river water.