Preparation and characterization of hydrophilic hybrid monoliths via thiol-ene click polymerization and their applications in chromatographic analysis and glycopeptides enrichment.

A macroporous hydrophilic organic-silica hybrid monolithic column was synthesized via photoinitiated thiol-ene click polymerization reaction of 1-thioglycerol-modified polyhedral oligomeric vinylsilsesquioxane (vinylPOSS) and dithiothreitol (DTT) in a binary porogenic system consisting of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and dodecanol. 1-Thioglycerol was used to modify vinylPOSS in order to form a precursor with good solubility in the binary porogenic system. The influences of both the ratio of 1-thioglycerol/vinylPOSS and the porogenic solvents on the morphology and permeability of hybrid monoliths were studied in detail. The physical properties of hybrid monolith were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement. The chromatographic performance was evaluated by separation of neutral polar compounds in capillary liquid chromatography (cLC). The resulting column possessed homogeneous macroporous structure and showed hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) separation mechanism with high efficiency of 65,000Nm(-1) for formamide. Ultimately, the hybrid matrix was grafted with hydrazine groups and then exhibited the ability of glycopeptides enrichment.