Graft copolymerization of -isopropylacrylamide with 3-(methacryloxy)propyl trimethoxysilane on ultrafine silica and its application in chromatography separation

Abstract

Thermosensitive core-shell particles were synthesized through graft copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide with [ 3-(methacryloxy) propyl]trimethoxysilane (MPT) coupled on the surface of ultrafine silica beads. The copolymerization was carried out using polyvinyl alcohol as a surfactant, water and cyclohexanol as mixed solvent, and 2,2′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) as an initiator. The effect of surfactant concentration and the composition of the mixed solvent on the graft rate were investigated. The structure of modified silica was confirmed by infrared spectra. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has revealed the thermosensitivity of the particles. The thermosensitive particles were used as packing materials of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) columns for separating naphthalene derivatives. Satisfactory separation was obtained by controlling the temperature of the column. In contrast, the packing material of silica-MPT has no such separation efficiency due to the lack of thermosensitivity. The effect of the composition of the mobile phase on the separating efficiency was also investigated. The temperature-controlled separation was effective only when the water content was higher than 90% (v/v) in the water-methanol mobile phase. The mechanism for the temperature-controlled separation is attributed to a polarity change of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) which undergoes volume phase transition on the silica surface as the temperature increases.

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