Polymerized high internal phase emulsion monoliths for the chromatographic separation of engineered nanoparticles

PolyHIPEs of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and styrene/divinylbenzene were prepared by polymerization of water-in-oil high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) within high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) columns. The columns were incorporated into a HPLC system affixed to an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer, and their potential for the separation of engineered nanoparticles was investigated. Triplicate injections of 5 and 10 nm gold particles injected onto a poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) polyHIPE column produced an average difference in retention time of 135 s. On a poly(EGDMA) column, triplicate injections of dysprosium containing polystyrene particles of 52 and 155 nm produced a difference in retention time of 8 s. In both cases the smaller particles eluted from the column first. Comparison, using scanning electron microscopy, of the polyHIPE columns after the separations, against freestanding monoliths produced from the same HIPEs, revealed no apparent change in the internal porous structure of the polyHIPEs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.