Using hybrid organic-inorganic surface technology to mitigate analyte interactions with metal surfaces in UHPLC

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Mathew Delano
  • Thomas H Walter
  • Matthew A Lauber
  • Martin Gilar
  • Moon Chul Jung
  • Jennifer Marie Nguyen
  • Cheryl Boissel
  • Amit V Patel
  • Andrew Bates-Harrison
  • Kevin D Wyndham

Interactions of analytes with metal surfaces in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instruments and columns have been reported to cause deleterious effects ranging from peak tailing to a complete loss of the analyte signal. These effects are due to the adsorption of certain analytes on the metal oxide layer on the surface of the metal components. We have developed a novel surface modification technology and applied it to the metal components in ultra-HPLC (UHPLC) instruments and columns to mitigate these interactions. A hybrid organic-inorganic surface, based on an ethylene-bridged siloxane chemistry, was developed for use with reversed-phase and hydrophilic interaction chromatography. We have characterized the performance of UHPLC instruments and columns that incorporate this surface technology and compared the results with those obtained using their conventional counterparts. We demonstrate improved performance when using the hybrid surface technology for separations of nucleotides, a phosphopeptide, and an oligonucleotide. The hybrid surface technology was found to result in higher and more consistent analyte peak areas and improved peak shape, particularly when using low analyte mass loads and acidic mobile phases. Reduced abundances of iron adducts in the mass spectrum of a peptide were also observed when using UHPLC systems and columns that incorporate hybrid surface technology. These results suggest that this technology will be particularly beneficial in UHPLC/mass spectrometry investigations of metal-sensitive analytes.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnalytical Chemistry
Volume03
Issue number14
Pages (from-to)5773-5781
ISSN0003-2700
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - Iron, Peptides and proteins, Metals, Chromatography, Biopolymers

ID: 262743555