Date of Award

5-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Chemistry

Committee Chair/Advisor

Marcus, R K

Committee Member

Anker , J N

Committee Member

Dominy , B N

Abstract

ABSTRACT High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), first used in the 1960's, is a rapidly evolving analytical technique, widely employed for identification, separation, and purification in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The development of the stationary phases has played an important role in improving this technique. Each stationary phase will have its own disadvantages. Polysaccharide-based stationary phases such as cross-linked dextran cannot tolerate high pressures and linear velocities; silica stationary phases are rigid enough but slow mass transfer in the pores on the surface causes another problem; with the introduction of non-porous and small bead packing materials, the low surface area and high backpressure still handicapped people from achieving better separations. Therefore, fiber based polymer stationary phases came into view. Capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers have been investigated in the Marcus laboratory for several years as a stationary phases for ion-exchange (IEC), reversed phase (RP), and hydrophobic interaction (HIC) chromatography. When packed into a column, the unique eight-channeled shape makes them interdigitate to form parallel channels with high surface area-to-volume ratio and low backpressure. Additionally, C-CP fibers are virtually non-porous toward large molecules, which decreases the mass transfer to achieve fast protein separations. In the first study, polypropylene (PP) C-CP fibers and inverse size exclusion chromatography (iSEC) were employed to determine the pore size distribution (PSD) on the surface of the fibers. With the findings of mean pore size radius and standard deviation, the fibers' geometric structure and adsorption behavior is better understood. In the second study, with the evaluation of the effects of different factors such as interstitial fraction and flow rate on the loading capacity of nylon-6 fibers, the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the fibers have been further revealed. All results presented the potential of C-CP fibers as an innovative stationary phase for fast macromolecule separations.

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