Enantioseparation in capillary eletrochromatography by covalent organic framework coating prepared in situ

Chiral covalent organic frameworks (CCOFs) have recently exhibited particularly promising potential as effective chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for open tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) enantioseparation. However, it remains difficult to synthesis of CCOFs and preparation of CCOFs coated capillary under mild reaction conditions. In this work, we designed and fabricated a CCOF (CB-DA-COF) with high chemical stability and high specific surface area at room temperature. Then, through one-step in situ growth method, the chiral CB-DA-COF coated capillary was fabricated at room temperature for the first time. This method requires neither pre-modification to the capillary by organic molecular building units nor harsh reaction conditions, and the preparation time of the CCOF coating was significantly shortened (within 2 h). This chiral CB-DA-COF coated capillary showed excellent enantioseparation ability and stability. Under optimal conditions, rapid enantioseparation (within 5 min) could be achieved for six enantiomers including terbutaline, propranolol, phenylephrine, verapamil, norepinephrine and isoprenaline. And, no significant change was observed in enantioseparation efficiency after over 200 runs. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the analyte's migration time for intra-day, inter-day and column-to-column were within the range of 0.8-3.5% (n = 5), 1.5-4.7% (n = 3) and 4.3-8.3% (n = 3), respectively. In addition, the enantioseparation mechanism was studied, which indicated that binding energy between of enantiomers and chiral site were the main factors for enantioseparation.