Normal phase polarity

In high-pressure adsorption chromatography, solutes adsorb with different affinities to binding sites in the solid stationary phase. Separation of solutes in a sample mixture occurs because polar solutes adsorb more strongly than nonpolar solutes. Therefore, the various components in a sample are eluted with different retention times from the column. This form of HPLC is usually called normal phase (polar stationary phase and a nonpolar mobile phase). 

Normal phase Polar stationary phase/nonpolar mobile phase... 

OJ-H normal phase, polar organic OJ-RH reverse phase... 

Nonpolar organic mobile phases, such as hexane with ethanol or 2-propanol as typical polar modifiers, are most commonly used with these types of phases. Under these conditions, retention seems to foUow normal phase-type behavior (eg, increased mobile phase polarity produces decreased retention). The normal mobile-phase components only weakly interact with the stationary phase and are easily displaced by the chiral analytes thereby promoting enantiospecific interactions. Some of the Pirkle-types of phases have also been used, to a lesser extent, in the reversed phase mode. 

Normal-phase LC tends to separate according to solute polarity since the stationary phase is polar and retention is often dominated by hydrogen bonding. Thus, normal-phase LC is useful in sorting out classes of materials according to the polarity of the solutes. Fatty acids are easily separated from monoglycerides, but the separation of individual saturated fatty acids from each other on the basis of their carbon... 

A more complicated, but flexible, system has been reported by Blomberg et al. (46). Here, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), normal phase EC (NPLC) and GC were coupled for the characterization of restricted (according to size) and selected (according to polarity) fractions of long residues. The seemingly incompatible separation modes, i.e. SEC and NPLC, are coupled by using an on-line solvent-evaporation step. 

The macrocyclic glycopeptides CSPs arc capable of operating in three different mobile phase systems reversed phase, normal phase, and the new polar organic mode. The new polar organic mode refers to the approach when methanol is used as the mobile phase with small amounts of acid and/or base as the modifier to control... 

Statistically, of the compounds enantioresolved by macrocyclic glycopeptide CSPs, new polar organic mode accounts for more than 40 %, balanced by reversed-phase mode, while typical normal-phase operation resulted in approximately 5 % of separations. Some categories of racemic compounds that are resolved on the glycopeptide CSPs at different operating modes are listed in Table 2-4. 

When analytes lack the selectivity in the new polar organic mode or reversed-phase mode, typical normal phase (hexane with ethanol or isopropanol) can also be tested. Normally, 20 % ethanol will give a reasonable retention time for most analytes on vancomycin and teicoplanin, while 40 % ethanol is more appropriate for ristocetin A CSP. The hexane/alcohol composition is favored on many occasions (preparative scale, for example) and offers better selectivity for some less polar compounds. Those compounds with a carbonyl group in the a or (3 position to the chiral center have an excellent chance to be resolved in this mode. The simplified method development protocols are illustrated in Fig. 2-6. The optimization will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. 

Similar to the new polar organic mode, the retention of analytes in normal phase is not difficult to predict. For all the compounds, the average of the retention on individual columns is fairly close to the retention on the coupled columns. The selectivity of most compounds on coupled columns is an average of the selectivities of individual columns (Fig. 2-9). However, it was found that the elution order for some compounds was reversed on ristocetin A and teieoplanin or vancomycin. As a result. 

This is because the increased turbulence from higher flow rates decreases the possibility for inclusion complexation, a necessary event for chiral recognition in reversed phase. Some effect has also been observed in the new polar organic mode when (capacity factor) is small (< 1). Flow rate has no effect on selectivity in the typic normal-phase system, even at flow rates up to 3 inL miir (see Fig. 2-11). 

Typical normal-phase operations involved combinations of alcohols and hexane or heptane. In many cases, the addition of small amounts (< 0.1 %) of acid and/or base is necessary to improve peak efficiency and selectivity. Usually, the concentration of polar solvents such as alcohol determines the retention and selectivity (Fig. 2-18). Since flow rate has no impact on selectivity (see Fig. 2-11), the most productive flow rate was determined to be 2 mL miiT. Ethanol normally gives the best efficiency and resolution with reasonable back-pressures. It has been reported that halogenated solvents have also been used successfully on these stationary phases as well as acetonitrile, dioxane and methyl tert-butyl ether, or combinations of the these. The optimization parameters under three different mobile phase modes on glycopeptide CSPs are summarized in Table 2-7. 

Normal phase a. Type of polar solvent b. Coneentration of polar solvent e. Aeid and base as modifiers d. Temperature... 

Another important issue that must be considered in the development of CSPs for preparative separations is the solubility of enantiomers in the mobile phase. For example, the mixtures of hexane and polar solvents such as tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, and 2-propanol typically used for normal-phase HPLC may not dissolve enough compound to overload the column. Since the selectivity of chiral recognition is strongly mobile phase-dependent, the development and optimization of the selector must be carried out in such a solvent that is well suited for the analytes. In contrast to analytical separations, separations on process scale do not require selectivity for a broad variety of racemates, since the unit often separates only a unique mixture of enantiomers. Therefore, a very high key-and-lock type selectivity, well known in the recognition of biosystems, would be most advantageous for the separation of a specific pair of enantiomers in large-scale production. 

The low polarity of CO,-based eluents makes SFC a normal phase technique. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the successful applications of chiral SFC have utilized CSPs designed for normal phase LC. Flowever, some exceptions have been noted. Specific applications of various CSPs are outlined in the next sections. 

Comparisons of LC and SFC have also been performed on naphthylethylcar-bamoylated-(3-cyclodextrin CSPs. These multimodal CSPs can be used in conjunction with normal phase, reversed phase, and polar organic eluents. Discrete sets of chiral compounds tend to be resolved in each of the three mobile phase modes in LC. As demonstrated by Williams et al., separations obtained in each of the different mobile phase modes in LC could be replicated with a simple CO,-methanol eluent in SFC [54]. Separation of tropicamide enantiomers on a Cyclobond I SN CSP with a modified CO, eluent is illustrated in Fig. 12-4. An aqueous-organic mobile phase was required for enantioresolution of the same compound on the Cyclobond I SN CSP in LC. In this case, SFC offered a means of simplifying method development for the derivatized cyclodextrin CSPs. Higher resolution was also achieved in SFC. 

This relatively new class of CSPs incorporates glycopeptides attached covalently to silica gel. These CSPs can be used in the normal phase, reversed phase, and polar organic modes in LC [62]. Various functional groups on the macrocyclic antibiotic molecule provide opportunities for tt-tt complexation, hydrogen bonding, and steric interactions between the analyte and the chiral selector. Association of the analyte... 

Normal-phase HPLC An HPLC system in which the mobile phase is less polar that the stationary phase. 

A large range of stationary phases is available, and according to their polarity they can be divided into normal phase and reversed phase types. Silica gel, aluminium oxide, and a nitrile-bonded-phase are normal adsorbents used to separate carotenoids... 

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