Igor Mihelič’s research while affiliated with University of Ljubljana and other places

Monoliths represents the 4th generation of chromatographic supports. They consist of a single piece of highly porous material with interconnected flow through pores. Because of that transport is based on convection what results in a flow unaffected separation and dynamic binding capacity. This is especially important when large molecular weight molecules such as proteins, DNA or viruses have to be purified. For this purpose large volume monolithic columns are needed. In this article preparation of such columns is described together with their main applications. The article is dedicated to Prof. Tine Koloini who substantially contributed to this topic.

Pressure drop analysis in commercial CIM disk monolithic columns is presented. Experimental measurements of pressure drop are compared to hydrodynamic models usually employed for prediction of pressure drop in packed beds, e.g. free surface model and capillary model applying hydraulic radius concept. However, the comparison between pressure drop in monolith and adequate packed bed give unexpected results. Pressure drop in a CIM disk monolithic column is approximately 50% lower than in an adequate packed bed of spheres having the same hydraulic radius as CIM disk monolith; meaning they both have the same porosity and the same specific surface area. This phenomenon seems to be a consequence of the monolithic porous structure which is quite different in terms of the pore size distribution and parallel pore nonuniformity compared to the one in conventional packed beds. The number of self-similar levels for the CIM monoliths was estimated to be between 1.03 and 2.75.

This work investigates the influence of temperature on the binding capacity of bovine serum albumin (BSA), soybean trypsin inhibitor and L-glutamic acid to a CIM (DEAE) weak anion-exchange disk monolithic column. The binding capacity was determined experimentally under dynamic conditions using frontal analysis. The effect on the dynamic binding capacity of dimers present in the BSA solution has been evaluated and a closed-loop frontal analysis was used to determine the equilibrium binding capacities. The binding capacity for both BSA and soybean trypsin inhibitor increased with increasing temperature. In the case of L-glutamic acid, an increase in the binding capacity was observed with temperature up to 20 degrees C. A further increase in temperature caused a decrease of the dynamic binding capacity.

Monolithic stationary phases are becoming increasingly important in the field of liquid chromatography. Methacrylate-based monoliths are produced via free-radical bulk polymerization. The preparation of large-volume monoliths is a major problem because the intensive heat released during polymerization causes distortion of the porous monolithic structure. This work presents experimental measurements of temperature distributions during polymerization in moulds of different sizes and at various experimental conditions. A mathematical model for the prediction of temporal and spatial temperature distribution during the polymerization of methacrylate-based monolithic columns is introduced. The polymerization is described by an unsteady-state heat conduction equation with the generation of heat related to the general kinetics of polymerization. Predictions from the mathematical model are in good agreement with the experimental measurements at different experimental conditions. A method for construction of large-volume monolithic columns is presented and an attempt is made to adopt the developed mathematical model in annular geometry. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 2326–2334, 2003

Monolithic stationary phases are becoming more and more important in the field of liquid chromatography, because they enable extremely fast separations. Methacrylate-based monoliths are produced via a free-radical bulk polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate using a benzoyl peroxide as an initiator. Preparation of large monoliths represents a big problem because of the heat release during the polymerization, which consequently leads to the distortion of the structure. A closer investigation of the polymerization, using differential scanning calorimetry, was performed in order to determine global kinetic parameters. A multiple heating rate method, based on the work of Ozawa, Flynn, and Wall, was applied for estimation of the values of the apparent activation energy, preexponential factor, and reaction order. Global polymerization kinetics is of first order with A = 1.681 × 109 s-1 and Ea,app = 81.5 kJ/mol, where the heat of polymerization is approximately 190 J/g. In addition, the influence of air and nitrogen atmosphere on polymerization is presented.

Monolithic stationary phases are becoming very important in the field of liquid chromatography. Methaciylate based CIM Convective Interaction Media® monolithic columns are produced via radical polymerization, which results in a rigid and chemically very stable porous monolithic structure. Some characteristics of small-scale monolithic columns and an example of extremely fast separation of biomolecules are presented in the paper. However, the preparation of large and homogeneous monolithic columns represents a big problem, because the heat release during the polymerization causes distortion of the monolithic structure. A mathematical model employing the polymerization kinetics for the prediction of the temperamre profiles and a comparison with the experimental results is presented with the emphasis on the conversion and the rate of the heat release profiles. Finally, the characteristics of a large-scale monolithic column are presented.

The characterization of CIM® DEAE monolithic columns in terms of dynamic binding capacity is presented in this paper. Breakthrough experiments were performed for capacity determination. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model protein. It is shown that CIM® monolithic columns have good batch-to-batch reproducibility as well as long-term stability. The experiments performed under different linear velocities demonstrated that the dynamic capacity is unaffected at least up to a linear velocity of 2450 cm/h. Furthermore, the breakthrough curve slope is constant, indicating that the capacity would remain constant at even higher linear velocities. The adsorption isotherm of BSA dissolved in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer shows a constant capacity of around 30 mg/mL of support down to a concentration of 20 μg/mL. The capacity is substantially influenced by the ionic strength; however, 20% of the maximal capacity is still preserved at 0.3 M NaCl.