Polymeric HPLC Columns
The term "polymeric" is used in two different ways in describing a HPLC column, thus it may cause confusion to casual readers.
First, polymeric could refer to the material of the stationary phase, i.e., polymer-based material or polymer-based packing material, or polymer-based HPLC column. Most popular HPLC column packing material is still silica. If an author is comparing silica-based material to polymer-based, he/she may simply write, silica vs. polymeric materials.
Second, a more common usage, polymeric could refer to the way functional groups are bound to the surface of the staionary phase, i.e., polymeric funtionalization. For example, a monomeric C18 column means the C18 funtional group is covalently bonded to the stationary phase with one bond. A polymerci C18 columns usually means that the C18 functional group is covalently bonded to the stationary phase with two or three bonds.
Polymeric columns have higher steric selectivity, thus more suitable for analyses of PAH, steroids, substituted aromatics, or fat-soluble vitamins. The relatively less sianol activity compare with monomeric makes polymeric columns better for peptide and protein separation. Polymeric bonded functional groups are also more stable at lower pH, often cited to be pH 1.5 by many manufacturers.