Synthesis of large pore-diameter SBA-15 mesostructured spherical silica and its application in ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography

A modified synthesis approach for spherical large pore-diameter SBA-15 mesoporous silica (SLP-SBA-15) with particle size range of 0.5–1 μm was being reported. It was worth mentioning that in this improved methodology, the use of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as co-template significantly reduced the self-assembly time from 24 h to 45 min. Moreover, under reflux condition, the reaction time could be further shortened by reducing the aging time from 48 h to 6 h. The resultant SLP-SBA-15 was thereafter successfully functionalized and packed into an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) column for the separation of aromatic compounds. A variety of characterizations demonstrated that the silica products exhibited a well-ordered 2d hexagonal mesostructure with well-formed spherical morphology. pore-diameter can be enlarged up to 8.2 nm without affecting the structural order. The SLP-SBA-15 samples showed excellent thermal and hydrothermal stabilities. The octadecyltriethoxysilane functionalized SLP-SBA-15 (SLP-C18-SBA-15) was demonstrated to be an effective stationary phase in UHPLC application because the column exhibited significantly reduced column pressure (2800 psi) at a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. Accordingly, it would afford greater flexibility for tuning of the flow rate to meet the fast separation requirement.