Synthesis of bifunctionalized mesoporous organosilica spheres for high-performance liquid chromatography

Phenyl-functionalized mesoporous ethane-silicas with spherical morphology were synthesized by one-step co-condensation of phenyltrimethoxysilane (PTMS) and 1,2-bis(trimethoxysily)ethane (BTME) using a triblock copolymer EO20PO70EO20 (P123) as template with the aid of a co-surfactant (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) and a co-solvent (ethanol) in acidic medium. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption measurement and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that phenyl-functionalized ethane-silica has wormhole-like mesostructure and perfect spherical morphology. The chemical stability of phenyl-functionalized mesoporous ethane-silica in basic medium is greatly improved owing to the ethane groups bridged in the mesoporous framework. This work also demonstrates that the phenyl-functionalized mesoporous ethane-silica spheres are excellent packing materials for potential application in the reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).