Separation science has played a vital role in chemical and biological analyses. Accordingly, the field of chemical separations has grown considerably. HPLC, in particular, continues to be an indispensable technique in most analytical laboratories. One of the most important advances in HPLC has been in column technology; particularly the development of separation columns containing packing material with chemically bonded stationary phases.¹. Column technology continues to be an area of active investigation among separation scientists; this is not surprising since it is within the column that the chromatographic processes take place, making the column the "heart" of the separation system. A fundamental understanding of chromatographic materials is critical to assess the intermolecular interactions governing the separation process, leading to the tailoring of phases with desired chromatographic characteristics.

Research efforts in our laboratory concentrate on the development of stable chromatographic materials for HPLC; this includes material's synthesis, physicochemical characterization, and chromatographic performance.^2,3 These materials are silica, hafnia, or zirconia based and are fabricated as particulates, thin films, and monoliths. The characterization of these materials (chromatographic and physicochemical) represents an excellent source of projects for undergraduate students. Examples of typical projects are a) thermogravimetric analysis of organic-inorganic silica-base materials, b) IR spectroscopy of silica hybrid materials, c) surface area, pore volume and pore distribution of zirconia, hafnia, and silica materials by nitrogen adsorption (BET), d) HPLC retention characteristics of silica hybrids, zirconia, and hafnia supports. The students will have the opportunity to learn and use state of the art instrumentation in order to characterize the chromatographic materials. While the material's synthesis and chromatographic characterization is performed in our laboratory, the students would also have the opportunity of using technologies not available in our laboratories. For example, students will perform SEM and TEM experiments, as well as the TGA experiments, in other facilities/laboratories in the university. Once the materials have been characterized, the students will have the opportunity to correlate the observed characteristics with the material's fabrication parameters.

References

1. Reynolds, K. J.; Colon, L. A. (2000). "Submicron-Sized Organo-Silica Spheres for Capillary Electrochromatography" J. Liq. Chromatogr. Relat. Tech. 21: 161-173.
2. Colon, L. A.; Cintron, J. M. Anspach, J. A.; Fermier, A. M.; Swinney, K. (2004). "Very High Pressure HPLC with 1-mm Columns." Analyst 129: 503-504.
3. Cintron, J. M. and L. A. Colon (2002). "Organo-silica Nano-particles Used in Ultrahigh-Pressure Liquid Chromatography." Analyst 127: 701-704.