An open tubular capillary electrochromatography column with porous inner surface for protein separation

An open tubular capillary electrochromatography (OTCEC) column using sole porogen to form porous inner surface has been developed. The porous layer was coated on the capillary inner wall by in situ polymerization in the presence of porogen. The results show that the columns using 1-propanol as sole porogen are appropriate for protein separation. It has higher separation efficiency than the column with the usual coporogen due to much more micropores and mesopores on the porous surface and a higher specific surface area. In addition, the sensitivity of the prepared OTCEC column was improved greatly compared with the dynamically coated capillary with polyvinylpyrrolidone. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.