Hamilton Polymers - Poly(styrene divinylbenzene) or PS-DVB is a robust polymer material used as the base framework for all the Hamilton polymer HPLC packing materials.

The high degree of cross-linking with divinylbenzene makes the polymer bead extremely durable for high pressure applications.

 - Can handle pressures over 5000psi

 - Have a usable pH range of 1‐13 (allows the separation of biological samples in their natural state)

 - Polymer columns can be cleaned with 0.1 M sodium hydroxide to remove strongly retained material.

 - Swelling in organic solvents such as THF or chloroform is negligible because of the cross‐linking

 - Can be operated at much higher temperatures as compared to silica based materials

 - Excellent sample recoveries due to the lack of acidic silanol groups

 - PS‐DVB resins are similar in retention characteristics to a C18 but do have a slightly different selectivity in some cases.

LIMITATIONS OF SILICA-BASED PACKING MATERIALS:

 - Operating at pH > 10 brings along an intrinsic risk of hydrolyzing siloxane bonds in the silica matrix, which are the backbone of the porous structure

 - Continuous hydrolysis leads to deteriorating column performance

 - Species used for surface modification (silanes such as C18, C8, cyano, etc.) will elute from the column and are likely to contaminate product fractions

 - Silica-based particles dissolve in water, especially at elevated temperature and at higher pH, and in higher buffer concentrations

 - The bonded phase can easily be stripped off by pH less than 2 because the Si‐O‐Si bond is hydrolyzed, and the residual silanol sites (SiOH groups) on the surface can cause peak tailing.