Patent ID: 7815802

Claim:
A method for isolating nucleic acid on a monolithic column, said method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a monolithic column having the steps of (i) providing a vessel; (ii) conditioning the interior surface of said vessel by contacting it with a silica-based flushing solution; (iii) preparing a silica-based monomer solution through hydrolysis of a silica monomer; (iv) forming a polymerizable mixture by admixing said silica-based monomer solution, an initiator material, and a porogenic solvent; (v) introducing said polymerizable mixture into the vessel; (vi) initiating the in situ polymerization of said polymerizable mixture by exposing selected portions of the mixture to UV light, thereby forming the UV photo-polymerized silica-based monolithic column within portions of the vessel; (vii) flushing a silica-based monomer reagent through said UV photo-polymerized silica-based monolithic column, thereby forming the grafted porous UV photo-polymerized silica-based monolithic column within portions of the vessel; and (b) isolating the nucleic acid on the monolithic column.