Electrically assisted capillary liquid chromatography using a silica monolithic column.

A silica monolithic capillary column was linked to an open capillary of the same internal diameter via a Teflon sleeve to form a duplex column to investigate the combination of chromatography and electrophoresis in the mode of electrically assisted capillary liquid chromatography (eCLC). Using a commercial CE instrument with an 8.5 cm long, 100 microm i.d. reversed phase silica monolithic section and a window 1.5 cm beyond the end of this in a 21.5 cm open section, a minimum plate height of 9 microm was obtained in capillary liquid chromatography (CLC) mode at a low driving pressure of 50 psi. In eCLC mode, high speed and high resolution separations of acidic and basic compounds were achieved with selectivity tuning based on the flexible combination of pressure (0-100 psi) and voltage. Taking advantage of the excellent permeability of silica monolithic columns, use of a step flow gradient enabled elution of compounds with different charge state.