Retention trends of chemical classes using CCl₄ as a carrier solvent in normal-phase HPLC

Abstract

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄ ) was closely evaluated as a carrier solvent in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The separation and retention trends of ninety-two selected compounds from eleven chemical classes (furans, thiophenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers, esters, ketones, aldehydes, aromatic amines, azaarenes, alcohols and phenols) on three analytical silica-bonded phase (amino (NH₂), cyano (CN) and polar amino-cyano (PAC)) columns were investigated with CCl₄ and refractive index (RI) detection. The sample capacity and column efficiency of each of the NH₂ and PAC columns were measured and compared. Besides, a method of determining unmeasurable capacity factors (k' values) was found and illustrated.