Ionizable analyte retention/selectivity

While a hydrophobic ion-pair is retained on hydrophobic stationary phases better than an ionized analyte, the retention of the duplex on normal phases is easily predicted to be lower than that of the ionized analyte because polar interactions are reduced. Actually the trend of k versus IPR concentration under normal phase IPC is the opposite of reversed phase IPC [34]. An aminopropyl, a cyanoethyl, and a silica stationary phase were compared for the analysis of alcohol denaturants. The cyanoethyl phase was selected and anionic IPRs were used to reduce retention of cationic analyte, suppressing their interactions with negatively charged silanols... 

The analyte nature and its appearance (e.g., ionization state) in the mobile phase are also factors that affect the retention mechanism. Eluent pH influences the analyte ionization equilibrium. Eluent type, composition, and presence of counterions affect the analyte solvation. These equilibria are also secondary processes that influence the analyte retention and selectivity and are of primary concern in the development of the separation methods for most pharmaceutical compounds. 

Figure 8-27 (k versus wpH) and Figure 8-28 (selectivity versus wpH) show the effect of pH on the retention of the para and ortho isomers at a constant mobile-phase composition of 50 5015 mM KH2PO4 acetonitrile, at 25°C over the aqueous pH range 2.0-10.7 analyzed on a Luna C18(2) (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA) column. Both of these isomeric compounds are acidic, and it is expected that an increase in the mobile-phase pH will cause a decrease in the analyte retention because these compounds are becoming progressively more ionized. At 25°C for these isomers analyzed at pH < 8 the undesired isomer, ortho isomer, is eluting after the para isomer and at pH > 9 the ortho isomer elutes before the para isomer (desired elution order). 

Figure 9 serves to demonstrate this equalizing of the stationary phases in the presence of buffers even for non-ionic analytes. In Fig. 9a, the separation of the isomers of nitroaniline on four rather different stationary phases with the help of an alkaline acetonitrile buffer is shown. Apart from small differences in the retention time, the separation of the three peaks looks rather similar on each of the four columns. Fig. 9b shows the separation of the nitroanilines on Symmetry Shield and on Zorbax Bonus in a methanol/water mixture. The chromatograms look absolutely different even an inversion of the elution order is observed. This means that to exploit the individual properties of the stationary phases in the realm of ultimate selectivity, one should dispense with buffers, which is not easy to realize in routine work, where reproducible retention times are required. Nevertheless, one should remember this in the case of orthogonal tests see below. These phenomena are observed even with simple, polar, non-ionizable analytes such as ketones (see Fig. 10). 

The most important parameter for the control of liquid chromatography is the composition of the eluent. Liquid chromatography is a powerful separation method with unlimited possibilities of eluent selection. However, it is not easy to choose a suitable eluent within a short time without a number of trial experiments. The crucial factor is to control the solubility of the analytes in the eluent. Increasing the solubility of analytes in the eluent decreases their retention times. The selection of the components of an eluent is described below, based on the properties of the analytes to be separated. The important properties are hydrophobicity, dipole moment, hydrogen bonding, ionization, and steric effects. 

The silanol induced peak tailing is also a function of the pH of the mobile phase. It is much less pronounced at acidic pH than at neutral pH. Therefore many of the older HPLC methods use acidified mobile phases. However, pH is an important and very valuable tool in methods development. The selectivity of a separation of ionizable compounds is best adjusted by a manipulation of the pH value. The retention factor of the non-ionized form of an analyte is often by a factor of 30 larger than the one of the ionized form, and it can be adjusted to any value in between by careful control of the mobile phase pH. This control must include a good buffering capacity of the buffer to avoid random fluctuations of retention times. 

The CEC phases must be capable of carrying a charge to generate an EOE and appropriate moieties to facilitate the chromatographic processes. Silica-based reversed-phase packing materials have been most widely used in CEC. The use of polymeric and mixed-mode bonded particles has also been reported. Eor the silica-based phases, the carbon chains bonded on the silica surface provide the retention and selectivity for analytes, and the residual silanol groups on the surface of the silica are ionizable and generate the EOF. 

Regarding the type of organic modifier, there has not been any particular reason for selecting methanol or acetonitrile in the preparation of the mobile phase. Adjusting the mobile phase at a pH value lower than 3.0, the ionization of the carboxylate moiety is suppressed and increased retention of the analytes can be achieved. Under these conditions, however, problems may appear due to the high sensitivity of some penicillins at these pH values. 

The PS-DVB sorbents can be more retentive than the bonded silica sorbents. Polymeric sorbents have been shown to be capable of retaining chemicals in their ionized form even at neutral pH. Pichon et al. [88] reported SPE recovery of selected acidic herbicides using a styrene-divinylbenzene sorbent so retentive that no adjustment of the pH of the solution was necessary to achieve retention from water samples at pH 7. At pH 7 the analytes were ionized and thereby retained in their ionic form. To effect retention of acidic compounds in their nonionized form using bonded silica sorbents, it is necessary to lower the pH of the sample to approximately 2. Analysis at neutral pH can be preferable to reduced pH because at lower pHs undesirable matrix contaminants, such as humic substances in environmental samples, can be coextracted and coeluted with the analytes of interest and subsequently may interfere with chromatographic analyses. 

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