Preparation of poly(vinyltetrazole) chain-grafted poly(glycidymethacrylate-co-ethylenedimethacrylate) beads by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization for the use in weak cation exchange and hydrophilic interaction chromatography

A novel stationary phase for weak cation exchange (WCX) and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) was prepared with surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Vinyltetrazole was grafted onto the surface of the beads in water medium with the polyglycidylmethacrylate beads (P(GMA/EDMA)) Previously modified with 2-bromoisobutryl bromide as the macromolecule initiators and CuCl as catalyst. The poly(vinyltetrazole)-grafted beads obtained with different atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) formulations were tried as chromatographic packings in ion-exchange chromatography. The results showed that the prepared columns could separate the tested proteins with high efficiency and high capacity, and the retention time of protein had a positive relationship with increasing the chain lengths of the grafted poly(vinyltetrazole) (PVT). The prepared column was also found to be able to separate nucleosides by hydrophilic interaction chromatographic mode. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.