Selectivity and temperature effects in high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

A study of six liquid chromatographic column packing materials was conducted. The materials investigated were: SI-60, SI-100, ALOX T, RP-2, RP-8, and RP-18 (E. M. Laboratories, Elmsford, N.Y.). The column packing materials had an average particle diameter of 10 µm and were slurry packed into stainless steel columns that were 3 mm i.d. and 250 mm in length.

Two series of probe compounds were utilized to investigate the differences in selectivity exhibited by the column packing materials in the normal phase mode and in the reversed phase mode. A column oven which controlled temperature to within ± 0.2 °C over the range of 0°C to 100°C was utilized throughout the work. Four different mobile phases were used, two for the normal phase work and two for the reversed phase work.

The effect of temperature was investigated in both the normal phase mode (20°C - 50°C) and in the reversed phase mode (20°C - 80°C).

The results of the selectivity study indicate that the column temperature can have a pronounced effect in normal phase liquid chromatography. As temperature increased, k' values went through a minimum in some cases, indicating a change in retention mechanism. As the temperature is increased, the retention of the compounds may be increased, decreased, or remain constant. RP-2 is a versatile column packing material which is useful in both the normal phase mode and the reversed phase mode. In the normal phase mode it behaves as a low surface area adsorption column and of the three adsorbents, (SI-60, SI-100, and RP-2), it has the widest scope. In the reversed phase mode it also has the widest scope of the three reverse phase columns studied (RP-2, RP-8, and RP-18). In reversed phase liquid chromatography, increases in retention as temperature was increased were not observed and plots of log k' vs. temperature in °C resulted in straight lines with very similar slopes. Column temperature is however an important operating parameter which is useful in optimizing separations.

Temperature was found to have little effect on the efficiency of the columns but was found to have a significant effect on the scope of the column packing materials in both the normal phase mode and in the reversed phase mode. When utilizing high surface area column packing materials or column packing materials with a high percentage of hydrocarbon bonded phase, temperature control is essential in order to obtain the best reproducibility.