A novel ionic-bonded cellulose stationary phase for saccharide separation

•Cellulose-coated silica was synthesized as a novel HILIC stationary phase.•It was prepared as a saccharide separation material based on ionic interaction.•It exhibited good reproducibility, stability and selectivity.•It showed further chromatographic properties and application. A hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) stationary phase of cellulose-coated silica was synthesized as a novel saccharide separation material. The material, prepared with a method based on ionic interaction, was demonstrated to be efficient for immobilization of saccharides on silica supports. The method is more efficient than traditional immobilized saccharide stationary phase synthesis methods. It was evolved from a method using anion exchanger microparticles agglomerated onto macroparticles of cation exchangers to produce anion exchangers. Cationic cellulose, which has a large number of hydroxyl groups, was immobilized on sulfonated silica. The cellulose-coated stationary phase we designed used strong hydrogen bonding between cellulose hydroxyl and carbohydrate compounds for HILIC retention and separation. The stationary phase was successfully used to separate the samples of polar compounds and the complex samples of oligosaccharides, and demonstrated good reproducibility and stability. The material exhibited good separation selectivity for carbohydrates and ability to enrich glycosylated peptides. The method described here is easy to achieve, environmentally safe and innovative than other methods. It also has extensive application possibilities to separate other categories polar compounds.