A strategy
based on in situ growth of a metal–organic
framework composite material was proposed by introducing a sodium
dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) group to increase the electrostatic
interaction between the MOF ligand and silica. In this work, mesoporous
silica spheres were first functionalized with a zirconium(IV)-based
metal–organic framework material (MOF-808), which produced
a core–shell particle (MOF-808@silica) as a hydrophilic interaction
liquid chromatography (HILIC) stationary phase. The obtained material
improves and enhances the selectivity and stability of the stationary
phase in traditional MOF-based HILIC. A series of methods such as
elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform
infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller were
used to confirm that MOF-808 was successfully modified onto silica.
The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the retention time for stability
with 120 h of continuous elution was found to range from 0.2% to 0.6%,
and the RSD of the repeatability for 10 replicates of continuous elution
was found to range from 0.1% to 0.3%. Furthermore, the column batch-to-batch
reproducibility of the retention time was reproducible with an RSD
of less than 2.2% depending on the analyte. The composite materials
were found to be superior to most reported MOF-based stationary phases
in terms of separation performance for various polar compounds, preparative
reproducibility, and chromatographic stability. In short, MOF-808@silica
composite material expands and improves the use of MOF materials as
stationary phases in hydrophilic chromatography, revealing a method
to prepare a MOF@silica composite that shows good performance when
used for chromatographic analysis.