A Novel Approach to Prepare a Glass-Fiber-Packed Capillary Column for Capillary Electrochromatography

In the present study, a novel method was proposed to pack long glass fibers into a narrow-bore capillary for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) applications. The factors that influence the packing process were studied in detail. The results demonstrated that solvents played dual roles to introduce the glass fiber into the capillary during the packing process, a lubricant and a carrying reagent. A preliminary CEC performance, between a glass fiber-packed-C-18-bonded open tubular column and a C-18-bonded open tubular one, was compared. The former exhibited a 25-60% larger electroosmotic flow (EOF) than that of the latter. High separation efficiency of toluene and naphthalene was obtained on the fiber-packed column, while the separation time decreased about 19%. The glass fiber-packed column showed a promising perspective in CEC applications, due to its high EOF, relative low phase ratio, ease of preparation, and tunable selectivity.