HILIC Stationary Phases: Polymer- versus Silica-Based Columns
A comparison of polymer- and silica-based stationary phases used in hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) for saccharide analysis.
Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) is becoming more popular and a wide range of HILIC stationary phase are available on the market. The surface of HILIC stationary phase is often modified with different types of polar functional groups, including amide-, amino-, diol- and cyano groups. The base material can be either silica or polymer, but like reversed-phase columns, the majority of HILIC columns on the market are silica-based. This is possibly because analysts are unfamiliar with polymer-based columns and regard them as expensive and offer lower resolutions than silica-based columns. This article discusses the advantages of polymer-based HILIC columns compared to silica-based HILIC columns for saccharide analysis
