High-performance liquid chromatography separation of small molecules on a porous poly (trimethylol propane triacrylate-co-N-isopropylacrylamide-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolithic column

A porous monolith was prepared by in situ free-radical polymerization using N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and trimethylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA) as functional monomers, ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) as crosslinking agent. The chemical group of the monolith was assayed by a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) method and the morphology of optimized monolithic column was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical strength and permeability have been studied in detail as well. The run-to-run and column-to-column reproducibility of the retention times were less than 0.9% and 3.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of temperature and mobile phase composition on the separation of aromatic compounds was investigated. The results indicated that poly (trimethylol propane triacrylate-co-N-isopropylacrylamide-co-ethylenedimethacrylate) (TMPTA-co-NIPAAm-co-EDMA) monolithic column not only had high porosity and strong rigidity, but also was a promising tool for analyzing small molecule compounds with a short analysis time by controlling the column temperature.