The Advantages of Silane-Treated Vials

Silane-treated chromatography vials eliminate the active sites on the vial’s internal glass wall, which reduces adherence of analytes to the walls of the vial. When performing quantitative analysis, especially at low levels, not all glass is equal, and any sample left “sticking” to your glass walls can make a big difference in your quantitative results.

Silanization is the surface deactivation of the free hydroxyl (silanol) groups found in borosilicate glass chromatography vials. Silanization is done by introducing a methylsilylating agent through vapor phase deposition onto the internal surface of the glass HPLC vial. The silylating agent reacts with the active hydroxyl sites, effectively making these sites less reactive. Since this treatment inhibits analytes from adhering to the surface of the vials it allows for maximum recovery of your analytes, which is very important for low-abundance analysis.

In Addition To Silane-Treated Vials, Another Option Is Reduced Surface Activity Vials

In some applications, analytes will react even with a vial that has been silanized. Reduced Surface Activity Vials are another type of glass vial that allows you to detect low abundant analytes normally adsorbed by glass. RSA™ vials are made with a proprietary process that does not create silanols (OH groups) on Type 33, borosilicate glass. This process also eliminates virtually all surface metals. Hydroxyl groups found on the surface of all ordinary glass autosampler vials can be very acidic, causing hydrolysis of bio active compounds. The RSA™ vial surface has virtually no silanols, making them mostly inert for these types of compounds that are susceptible to acidic functionality. 

Are you concerned with basic and polar analytes adsorbing to your glass vials? Try the MicroSolv Reduced Surface Activity Glass Autosampler Vials—available through Chrom Tech!

Benefits of RSA™ Vials

• Detect low abundance analytes normally adsorbed by glass

• Limit pH changes in vials before injection even hours later

• Prevent sample hydrolysis that can occur in your vials—RSA™ glass has virtually no metals compared to MS-Certified Glass Vials

• No meniscus when water is used as the main solvent

• Not coated or silanized

Summary

If you are performing trace analysis quantitation or concerned with your analytes reacting to the surface of your chromatography vial, contact Chrom Tech to discuss if Silane-Treated Vials or Reduced Activity Vials are best for your application.