High Performance Chromatographic columns containing organic or composite polymeric monolithic supports and method for their preparation.

The invention concerns high-performance chromatographic columns containing polymeric monolithic supports with continuous bimodal porosity, suitable for the separation and/or purification of organic compounds of low, medium and high molecular weight, and bio-organic compounds such as peptides, proteins, oligo- and polynucleotides, oligo- and polysaccharides. The proposed columns include a hollow tubular support made of silica-based amorphous material or internally lined with such material, containing a monolithic stationary phase having a continuous, porous and rigid polymeric structure, wherein such stationary phase covalently bonds onto the internal walls of the said hollow tubular support. The chromatographic efficiency of the column is greater than 50,000 plates per metre. The invention also concerns methods for preparing such monolithic columns with gamma radiation-induced polymerization processes.