SiliaSphere^™- Spherical Silica Gels

SiliaSphere for Analytical Chromatography SiliaSphere PC for Preparative Chromatography

SiliCycle is your partner of choice for your purification and chromatography needs. Here is why:

• Recognized worldwide as a leader with outstanding quality spherical silica gels for analytical and preparative chromatography.
• One of the best silica on the market with unbeatable performance, superior chromatographic performance, loading capacity, reproducibility, and chemical & physical stability.
• Broadest portfolio of chromatographic phases to suit all purification needs.
• Wide range of formats for all purification scales bulk & HPLC columns.

 

SiliCycle is a World Class Silica Expert

At SiliCycle, we offer two grades of spherical silica gel; SiliaSphere Monodispersed Spherical Silica Gel for analytical needs and SiliaSphere PC for preparative ones. Both grades are manufactured under the same well controlled processes to ensure constant reproducibility and easy scale-up.

With pore diameters ranging from 60 to 1,000 Å and particle sizes from 1.8 to 200 µm, we offer products to meet all your separation requirements. This is one of the most reliable portfolios of spherical silica gels for high pressure chromatography. SiliaSphere are ideal for both analytical and preparative chromatography, from laboratory to pilot-plant processes and production scales. Furthermore, the excellent properties of SiliaSphere make them the packing of choice for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) and simulated moving bed (SMB) applications.

Features and Benefits of SiliaSphere Spherical Silica Gels

Features and Benefits of SiliaSphere Spherical Silica Gels
Features	Benefits
High purity silica gels	Consistency, reliability & reproducibility
Perfect spherical shape free of any cavities or cracks	Ease of column packing and high resolution
Exceptional narrow particle size distribution	Optimal separation and resolution
Strong mechanical stability	Low back-pressure without surface abrasion
Same well controlled processes for all SiliaSphere	Easy scalability
Availability in bulk quantities at affordable price	On-time delivery

 

SiliaSphere Characteristics

SiliaSphere Monodispersed Characteristics
Properties / Pore Diameter	60 & 80 Å	100 Å	300 Å	1,000 Å
Specific Surface Area (m2/g)	≥ 450	≥ 400	≥ 80	≥ 20
Pore Volume (mL/g)	0.85 - 1.15	0.85 - 1.15	0.75 - 1.05	0.75 - 1.05
pH (5% w/w)	4 - 7	4 - 7	4 - 7	4 - 7
Available Particle Sizes (µm)	1.8*, 2.2*, 3, 5, 10, 20	1.8, 2.2, 3, 5, 10, 20	3, 5, 10	10

*Not available in 60 Å

 

SiliaSphere as a Silica Matrix

For over 18 years, SiliCycle has been dedicated to silica gel manufacturing and we have achieved a strong know-how and expertise in this field. Furthermore, to support the increasing demand on our spherical silicas, we have developed an optimized and highly controlled large-scale production process for all of our SiliaSphere products without decreasing the quality of the silica.

Particle shape, pore and particle size distributions, silica gel purity, and surface properties, all have their influence on chromatographic performance. Therefore, in order to develop the most efficient process, all previously mentioned parameters need to be evaluated and optimized to ensure batch-to-batch reproducibility.

SiliaSphere is manufactured from an organic form of silicon (alkoxydes). This ensures very low metal content as the starting material is purified by distillation. Deionized water is used to hydrolyze the silicon alkoxydes. Careful monitoring and control of the parameters that induce precipitation afford spherical silica gels with the desired characteristics. SiliaSphere products are characterized by a very low metal content and exceptional stability even at extreme pHs. Furthermore, our manufacturing process ensures quality and reproducibility in pore size, surface area and particle sizes and morphology for all SiliaSphere products.

 

Perfectly Spherical Particle Shape

The perfectly spherical shape of SiliaSphere silicas, combined to their smooth surfaces free of any cracks, cavities and fines make them the packing of choice for chromatography. The SiliaSphere sphericity exceeds or compares favorably to well-known brands in spherical silica gel as demonstrated by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture.

 

Narrow Pore Size Distribution

The right pore diameter to use is related to the type of molecules present in the sample to be purified. Typically, for small molecules, 100 - 120 Å pore size is recommended. However, if higher resolution is required, then 60 - 80 Å will be more suitable. For large molecules, such as peptides and proteins, 300 Å or higher is recommended.

 

Tight Particle Size Distribution

The importance of the particle size distribution varies depending on the type of chromatography being done. For instance, it is very important when using HPLC that the particle size distribution of the spherical particles being used be very narrow. Tight particle size distribution yields greater column performance (separation), better peak shape, lower back-pressure as well as higher packing stability.

SiliaSphere offers one of the narrowest particle size distributions available on the market. To evaluate our particle size distribution, we use the D90/D10 ratio.

 

High Surface Area and Pore Volume

Our optimized manufacturing process ensures high specific surface area for greater loading capacity with an uniform and reproducible surface coverage.

 

Low Trace Metal Content & High Purity

SiliCycle’s proprietary technology generates a silica gel with one of the lowest trace metal content on the market today. Our low trace metal content ensures you will get optimal performance chromatography. Tight control of trace metals in every batch also improves the reproducibility and reduces risks of interaction between metals and desired compounds. Low metal content limiting any unwanted metal ion solute interactions – providing symmetrical peaks with little or nor tailing.

To probe low metal content in SiliaSphere silicas, we ran the following chromatographic test and we compared our products with a well-known competitor. With SiliaSphere, you can be assured that peak tailing or missing peaks are not coming from our silica.

1. Toluene: Column Packing Efficiency => Neutral solute
2. Acetoacetanilide: Metal Content => Can interact with heavy metals resulting in tailing or missing peaks
3. Catechol: Metal Content => Can interact with heavy metals resulting in tailing or missing peaks
4. 3-Pyridyl-acetonitrile: Silica’s Acidic Character => Strongly sorbs to acidic sites

 

Scalability

SiliaSphere are available in bulk for a wide range of HPLC purification; from laboratory to plant scale. All SiliaSphere products are manufactured under tightly controlled manufacturing processes, and stringent quality control ensures the highest quality and reproducibility possible. Scaling-up is extremely straight-forward with SiliaSphere silicas and performance will remain the throughout the range of particle sizes.

 

Lot-to-lot reproducibility

SiliCycle is committed to high quality standards and always strives to provide defect-free products and lot-to-lot reproducibility. In doing so, all products are manufactured in an ISO 9001:2008 compliant facility and subjected to a stringent quality control. Every lot needs to meet the established specifications to be released. This ensures reliable & reproducible chromatographic performances.

The graph at right presents results obtained for the molecular loading based on sulfur content as well as surface coverage of the last 5 lots of SiliaSphere 10 µm, 120 Å produced which shows high product manufacturing reproducibility.