Hydroxyl-containing compounds silanols

Typical primary particle sizes of synthetic silicas are 0.01 to 0.10 pm and a BET surface area of 50 to 800 m /g. The refractive index of synthetic silica is 1.45, which is close to refractive indices of polymers, making it possible to produce translucent and transparent filled polymer compounds. The surface of synthetic silica contains hydroxyl groups called silanol groups, which easily tend to form hydrogen bonds with water molecules and demonstrate hydrophilic character. 

Reversed-phase liquid chromatography shape-recognition processes are distinctly limited to describe the enhanced separation of geometric isomers or structurally related compounds that result primarily from the differences between molecular shapes rather than from additional interactions within the stationary-phase and/or silica support. For example, residual silanol activity of the base silica on nonend-capped polymeric Cis phases was found to enhance the separation of the polar carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin [29]. In contrast, the separations of both the nonpolar carotenoid probes (a- and P-carotene and lycopene) and the SRM 869 column test mixture on endcapped and nonendcapped polymeric Cig phases exhibited no appreciable difference in retention. The nonpolar probes are subject to shape-selective interactions with the alkyl component of the stationary-phase (irrespective of endcapping), whereas the polar carotenoids containing hydroxyl moieties are subject to an additional level of retentive interactions via H-bonding with the surface silanols. Therefore, a direct comparison between the retention behavior of nonpolar and polar carotenoid solutes of similar shape and size that vary by the addition of polar substituents (e.g., dl-trans P-carotene vs. dll-trans P-cryptoxanthin) may not always be appropriate in the context of shape selectivity. 

The greater part of the modification studies of silica with boron compounds has been directed towards achieving an understanding of the surface structure of silica and silica based adsorbents, utilizing the quantitative reactions with boron containing probe molecules. Because hydroxyl type specificity occurred in some reactions, boron compounds were used to make a distinction between isolated and vicinal surface hydroxyls. Diborane was even utilized as a probe to distinguish surface silanols from hydration water.6,7... 

---