Study of the porogenic solvent effect upon the structure of the static monolith phase in quartz capillaries obtained in situ by electron beam initiated polymerization

A possibility for obtaining monolith chromatographic columns based on quartz capillaries is studied using electron beam initiated in situ polymerization of the monomer mixture glycidyl methacrylate: methyl methacrylate: ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the ratio 1:1:2 using formamide, propanol-1, n-decanol and 1,4-butanediol porogenic solvents in different concentrations. A uniform monolith column is only formed in the case of using formamide characterized by a small molecule size and inability to interact with the monomer molecules and growing polymer chains. The use of other solvents containing hydroxyl groups reacting with the monomer molecules and causing chain termination results in the incomplete capillary filling (in the case of propanol-1), loose inhomogeneous structure (in the case of 1,4-butanediol) or complete removal of the mixture from the capillary (in the case of n-decanol). Generally, optimal conditions are determined for in situ preparation of chromatographic capillary columns with reproducible characteristics due to the precise control of the electron beam initiation parameters.