HPLC Columns

C18 and C8 columns, which are typical HPLC columns, often use silica gel-based filler.
This is because silica gel-based filler has many advantages, such as excellent pressure and media resistance, a sharp pore size distribution that provides high separation performance, and the ability to be used with a wide range of samples.
Disadvantages, however, include peak tailing due to secondary interaction of silanol groups and durability under alkaline conditions.
Shiseido, the developer at the time, applied the powder surface treatment technology it had cultivated for cosmetic foundations and other products to silica gel-based filler, developing a polymer-coated silica gel filler in which the silica gel surface was coated with a silicone polymer.
This resulted in a high-performance silica gel-based filler that could overcome the issues with such filler materials, such as improved durability under alkaline conditions and the effects of residual silanol groups.