Kinetic performance comparison of a capillary monolithic and a fused-core column in micro-scale liquid chromatography.

The kinetic performance of monolithic and fused-core capillary C(18) columns was compared in isocratic-elution liquid chromatography. Heptanophenone was chosen as a test compound. The (u(0), H) couple obtained in a column with permeability K(v0) was transferred into a plate number, dead time (N, t(0)) couple and the kinetic plots were achieved by using a Kinetic Method Plot Analyzer template. The u(0,opt) (0.98 mm/s for the monolith and 1.05 mm/s for the fused-core column) and H(min) (17.58 μm for the monolith and 18.08 μm for the fused-core column) values determined from the van Deemter curve were found to be almost identical, whereas the N(opt) (the plate number for which the support achieves its best analysis time/pressure cost ratio) (150,000 for monolith and 41,000 for fused-core column), maximal plate number, N(max) (the maximum plate number that can ever be reached with a support) (550,000 for monolith and 120,000 for the fused-core column) and optimal analysis time, t(opt) (the time needed to obtain N(opt) plates) (18,583 s for the monolith and 4,068 s for the fused-core column) performance numbers determined from the kinetic plots were found to be significantly different.