A strategy based on in situ growth of a metal−
organic framework composite material was proposed by introduc-
ing a sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) group to increase
the electrostatic interaction between the MOF ligand and silica. In
this work, mesoporous silica spheres were first functionalized with
a zirconium(IV)-based metal−organic framework material (MOF-
808), which produced a core−shell particle (MOF-808@silica) as a
hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) stationary
phase. The obtained material improves and enhances the selectivity
and stability of the stationary phase in traditional MOF-based
HILIC. A series of methods such as elemental analysis, scanning
electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and
Brunauer−Emmett−Teller were used to confirm that MOF-808
was successfully modified onto silica. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the retention time for stability with 120 h of
continuous elution was found to range from 0.2% to 0.6%, and the RSD of the repeatability for 10 replicates of continuous elution
was found to range from 0.1% to 0.3%. Furthermore, the column batch-to-batch reproducibility of the retention time was
reproducible with an RSD of less than 2.2% depending on the analyte. The composite materials were found to be superior to most
reported MOF-based stationary phases in terms of separation performance for various polar compounds, preparative reproducibility,
and chromatographic stability. In short, MOF-808@silica composite material expands and improves the use of MOF materials as
stationary phases in hydrophilic chromatography, revealing a method to prepare a MOF@silica composite that shows good
performance when used for chromatographic analysis.