Monolithic capillary columns consisting of poly(glycidyl methacrylate- co -ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) and their diol derivatives with incorporated hydroxyl functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reversed-phase capillary electrochromatography

in order to react some of the OH-MWCNTs with the epoxy rings of the poly(GMA-co-EDMA) monolith. In all cases, the OH-MWCNTs were subjected to high power sonication at an output power of 10 W for 15 min with the aim of better dispersing the incorporated nanotubes into the monoliths under investigation. In fact, high power sonication yielded columns with a relatively higher plate count (∼2 fold increase) when compared to low power sonication. While the incorporation of OH-MWCNTs into the poly(GMA-co-EDMA) monolith acted as an amendment boosting the nonpolar character of the monolith and providing additional π-π interactions, the diol derivative monolith with its polar backbone character acted nearly as a support for the OH-MWCNT stationary phase giving rise to a carbon nanotube sorbent providing hydrophobic and π-π interactions via the incorporated OH-MWCNTs. These two kinds of columns were evaluated using alkylbenzenes, toluene derivatives, aniline compounds, phenols and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.