Effects of functional monomers on retention behavior of small and large molecules in monolithic capillary columns at isocratic and gradient conditions.

The polarity of (poly)methacrylate monolithic capillary columns was varied by using alkylmethacrylate monomers with butyl, cyclohexyl, 2-ethylhexyl, lauryl, and stearyl functional groups in the polymerization mixture. The hydrodynamic properties, as well as the retention characteristics in RP-LC of small molecules (alkylbenzenes) and of proteins under gradient elution conditions were studied. The RP selectivity depends on the type of alkyl chain in methacrylate monomer; however, there was no direct correlation between the size of the monomer molecule and methylene or aromatic selectivity of the monlithic column. The lowest selectivity was found for column based on lauryl methacrylate monomer. On the other hand, butyl methacrylate column shows high phenyl selectivity and the column with stearyl methacrylate possesses the highest methylene selectivity for small molecules. The retention increases with longer alkyl chain in methacrylate monomer, especially for high molar mass proteins on all prepared columns and showed gradient elution behavior of proteins in agreement with the linear solvent strength gradient model. The poly(laurylmethacrylate) column showed lowest hydrophobicity but best efficiency for proteins of all columns tested.