A simple "one-pot" approach for the preparation of a new vinyl-functionalized organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic column is described. In this improved method, the hydrolyzed alkoxysilanes of tetramethoxysilane and triethoxyvinylsilane were used as precursors for the synthesis of a silica-based monolith, while 1-hexadecene and sodium ethylenesulfonate were used as vinyl functional monomers along with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The effects of reaction temperature, urea content, and composition of organic monomers on the column properties (e.g. morphology, mechanical stability, and chromatographic performance) were investigated. The monolithic column was used for the separation of neutral solutes by reversed-phase pressurized capillary. Furthermore, the monolith can separate various aromatic amines, which indicated its excellent cation-exchange capability and hydrophobic interactions. The baseline separation of the aromatic amines was obtained with a column efficiency of up to 78 000 plates/m.

In this work, an organic-inorganic hybrid boronate affinity monolithic column was prepared via "one-pot" process using 4-vinylphenylboronic acid as organic monomer and divinylbenzene as cross-linker. The effects of reaction temperature, solvents and composition of organic monomers on the column properties (e.g. morphology, permeability, and mechanical stability) were investigated. A series of test compounds including small neutral molecules, aromatic amines, and cis-diol compounds were used to evaluate the retention behaviors of the prepared hybrid monolithic column. The results demonstrated that the prepared hybrid monolith exhibited mixed-interactions including hydrophilicity, cation exchange, and boronate affinity interaction. The run-to-run, day-to-day and batch-to-batch reproducibilities of the prepared hybrid monolith for thiourea's retention time were satisfactory with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 0.09, 1.45 and 4.05% (n = 3), respectively, indicating the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.

A novel o-phenanthroline-immobilized ionic-liquid-modified hybrid monolith for capillary electrochromatography was synthesized based on chloropropyl-silica, which was prepared by the in situ polymerization of tetramethoxysilane and 3-chloropropyltrimethoxysilane via a sol-gel process. The morphology of the hybrid monolith was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and relatively stable anodic electroosmotic flow was observed under a broad pH ranged from pH 3.0 to 9.0. The separation mechanism was investigated by separating four neutral molecules (toluene, dimethylformamide, formamide, and thiourea). The obtained hybrid monolith possessed an obviously reversed-phase retention mechanism, but when the acetonitrile content in the mobile phase was >90% v/v, a weak hydrophilic mechanism was observed on the resultant o-phenanthroline-modified chloropropyl-silica hybrid monolith. The reproducibility of the column was also investigated by measuring relative standard deviations of the migration time for four neutral molecules. Relative standard deviations of run to run (n = 3), day to day (n = 3), and column to column (n = 3) were in the range of 0.4-0.7, 0.9-2.1, and 1.4-3.3%, respectively. Basic separations of various polar analytes including phenols and aromatic amines were successfully achieved.