Preparation of organic-silica hybrid boronate affinity monolithic column for the specific capture and separation of cis-diol containing compounds

A new boronate-silica hybrid monolithic column was prepared using a one-pot approach with 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid (AAPBA) as the boronate affinity ligand. The AAPBA-silica monolith exhibited several attractive advantages. First, it is highly hydrophilic, providing excellent specificity and avoiding the presence of organic solvent in the mobile phase. Second, due to its large surface area, it exhibited a high binding capacity, 49.5 μmol/mL, the highest among the boronate affinity monolithic columns appeared in the literature. Third, the monolith can bind with cis-diol containing compounds at pH as low as 6.5, which not only avoids the use of basic pH conditions at which the silica monolith may hydrolysis but also facilitates the applications to wider sample range. Finally, the hybrid monolithic column exhibited apparent secondary separation capability, which allows for two-dimensional (2D) separation of cis-diol compounds in a single column. Due to these merits, the AAPBA-silica hybrid monolithic column can be a promising separation medium for the analysis of cis-diol containing compounds.