Reverse phase effect

Unlike conventional ion exchange, IIC can be used to separate nonionic and ionic or ionizable compounds in the same sample, because retention of an analyte involves its transfer trough the electrical double layer and depends on both electrostatic interactions and adsorptive (reversed-phase) effects. 

Polystyrene/divinylbenzene-based ion-exclusion columns are also offered by Hamilton Co. (Reno, NV, USA) under the trade name PRP-X300. This is a 10-pm material with an exchange capacity of 0.2 mequiv/g [4], It is obtained by sulfonation of PRP-1, a macroporous PS/DVB polymer with reversed-phase properties. Fig. 4-2 shows the separation of various organic acids on this stationary phase. Dilute sulfuric acid was used as the eluent. The much higher retention of succinic acid compared to acetic acid reveals that the retention of organic acids is chararcterized, apart from reversed-phase effects, by the formation of hydrogen bonds. 

Reversed-phase hplc has been used to separate PPG into its components using evaporative light scattering and uv detection of their 3,5-dinitroben2oyl derivatives. Acetonitrile—water or methanol—water mixtures effected the separation (175). Polymer glycols in PUR elastomers have been identified (176) by pyrolysis-gc. The pyrolysis was carried out at 600°C and produced a small amount of ethane, CO2, propane, and mostiy propylene, CO, and CH4. The species responsible for a musty odor present in some PUR foam was separated and identified by gc (Supelco SP-2100 capillary column)... 

Except for the high molecular weight range, nearly all substances can be separated by reversed-phase (RP) HPLC. The many different separation mechanisms in RP HPLC, based on hydi ophobic, hydi ophilic and ion-pairing interactions, and size exclusion effects together with the availability of a lai ge number of high quality stationary phases, explain its great populai ity. At present approximately 90% of all HPLC separations are carried out by reversed-phase mode of HPLC, and an estimated 800 different stationai y phases for RP HPLC are manufactured worldwide. 

Silica gel, per se, is not so frequently used in LC as the reversed phases or the bonded phases, because silica separates substances largely by polar interactions with the silanol groups on the silica surface. In contrast, the reversed and bonded phases separate material largely by interactions with the dispersive components of the solute. As the dispersive character of substances, in general, vary more subtly than does their polar character, the reversed and bonded phases are usually preferred. In addition, silica has a significant solubility in many solvents, particularly aqueous solvents and, thus, silica columns can be less stable than those packed with bonded phases. The analytical procedure can be a little more complex and costly with silica gel columns as, in general, a wider variety of more expensive solvents are required. Reversed and bonded phases utilize blended solvents such as hexane/ethanol, methanol/water or acetonitrile/water mixtures as the mobile phase and, consequently, are considerably more economical. Nevertheless, silica gel has certain areas of application for which it is particularly useful and is very effective for separating polarizable substances such as the polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and substances... 

In most situations the eluent composition is chosen to minimize the effects of hydrophobic interaction, but these secondary effects can be used to advantage. By careful selection of a salt and its concentration, specific selectivities for analytes can be achieved without the use of organic solvents. Therefore, many separations usually run by solvent gradient reversed-phase methods can be completed with a purely aqueous isocratic eluent (13,14). 

Figure 13.7 Selectivity effected by employing different step gradients in the coupled-column RPLC analysis of a surface water containing 0.40 p-g 1 bentazone, by using direct sample injection (2.00 ml). Clean-up volumes, (a), (c) and (d) 4.65 ml of M-1, and (b) 3.75 ml of M-1 transfer volumes, (a), (c) and (d), 0.50 ml of M-1, and (b), 0.40 ml of M-1. The displayed cliromatograms start after clean-up on the first column. Reprinted from Journal of Chromatography, A 644, E. A. Hogendoom et al, Coupled-column reversed-phase liquid chromatography-UV analyser for the determination of polar pesticides in water , pp. 307-314, copyright 1993, with permission from Elsevier Science.

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). 

For most free amino acids and small peptides, a mixture of alcohol with water is a typical mobile phase composition in the reversed-phase mode for glycopeptide CSPs. For some bifunctional amino acids and most other compounds, however, aqueous buffer is usually necessary to enhance resolution. The types of buffers dictate the retention, efficiency and - to a lesser effect - selectivity of analytes. Tri-ethylammonium acetate and ammonium nitrate are the most effective buffer systems, while sodium citrate is also effective for the separation of profens on vancomycin CSP, and ammonium acetate is the most appropriate for LC/MS applications. 

Quality of the adsorbent layer. Layers for HPTLC are prepared using specially purified silica gel with average particle diameter of 5-15 /mi and a narrow particle size distribution. The silica gel may be modified if necessary, e.g. chemically bonded layers are available commercially as reverse-phase plates. Layers prepared using these improved adsorbents give up to about 5000 theoretical plates and so provide a much improved performance over conventional TLC this enables more difficult separations to be effected using HPTLC, and also enables separations to be achieved in much shorter times. 

These sorbents may be used either for selective fixation of biological molecules, which must be isolated and purified, or for selective retention of contaminants. Selective fixation of biopolymers may be easily attained by regulation of eluent polarity on the basis of reversed-phase chromatography methods. Effective isolation of different nucleic acids (RNA, DNA-plasmid) was carried out [115, 116]. Adsorption of nucleosides, nucleotides, tRN A and DNA was investigated. It was shown that nucleosides and nucleotides were reversibly adsorbed on... 

Naphthalenedisulfonate-acetonitrile as the only mobile phase with a silica column coated with a crosslinked aminofluorocarbon polymer has proven to be an effective combination for the separation of aliphatic anionic surfactants. Indirect conductivity and photometric detection modes are used to monitor these analytes. The retention of these surfactants is found to depend on both the ionic strength and the organic solvent content of the mobile phase. The mechanism of retention is considered to be a combination of both reverse phase and ion exchange processes. Selective separation of both alkanesulfonates and... 

Simple mixtures—like in alkyl sulfosuccinates—can be run using only one solvent. For more complex systems (e.g., ethoxylated fatty alcohol sulfosuccinates) a gradient technique is strongly recommended Technical mixtures of disodium laureth sulfosuccinate could be separated [68]. The separation was so effective that resolution of single homologs of ethoxylates was possible. The detection limit of this method lies at around 0.5 pg. Therefore reverse phase ion pair chromatography seems to be an excellent tool to analyze sulfosuccinates directly without the use of any kind of manipulation. 

If the mixture to be separated contains fairly polar materials, the silica may need to be deactivated by a more polar solvent such as ethyl acetate, propanol or even methanol. As already discussed, polar solutes are avidly adsorbed by silica gel and thus the optimum concentration is likely to be low, e.g. l-4%v/v and consequently, a little difficult to control in a reproducible manner. Ethyl acetate is the most useful moderator as it is significantly less polar than propanol or methanol and thus, more controllable, but unfortunately adsorbs in the UV range and can only be used in the mobile phase at concentrations up to about 5%v/v. Above this concentration the mobile phase may be opaque to the detector and thus, the solutes will not be discernible against the background adsorption of the mobile phase. If a detector such as the refractive index detector is employed then there is no restriction on the concentration of the moderator. Propanol and methanol are transparent in the UV so their presence does not effect the performance of a UV detector. However, their polarity is much greater than that of ethyl acetate and thus, the adjustment of the optimum moderator concentration is more difficult and not easy to reproduce accurately. For more polar mixtures it is better to explore the possibility of a reverse phase (which will be discussed shortly) than attempt to utilize silica gel out of the range of solutes for which it is appropriate. 

The mobile phases that are most effective for use with reverse phases are aqueous mixtures of methanol or acetonitrile and for subtle adjustments, ternary mixtures of water, methanol and acetonitrile or tetrahydrofuran can be used. The greater the water content the more the solutes with dispersive groups will be retained and in fact, in pure water, many substances are irreversibly held on a reverse phase. As already discussed, this characteristic make reverse phases very useful for solute extraction and concentration from aqueous solutions prior to analysis. 

Knowledge of the identity of phenolic compounds in food facilitates the analysis and discussion of potential antioxidant effects. Thus studies of phenolic compounds as antioxidants in food should usually by accompanied by the identification and quantification of the phenols. Reversed-phase HPLC combined with UV-VIS or electrochemical detection is the most common method for quantification of individual flavonoids and phenolic acids in foods (Merken and Beecher, 2000 Mattila and Kumpulainen, 2002), whereas HPLC combined with mass spectrometry has been used for identification of phenolic compounds (Justesen et al, 1998). Normal-phase HPLC combined with mass spectrometry has been used to identify monomeric and dimeric proanthocyanidins (Lazarus et al, 1999). Flavonoids are usually quantified as aglycones by HPLC, and samples containing flavonoid glycosides are therefore hydrolysed before analysis (Nuutila et al, 2002). 

Welerowicz, T., Buszewski, B. The effect of stationary phase on lipophilicity determination of 3-blockers using reverse-phase chromatographic systems. Eiomed. Chromatogr. 2005, 39, 725-736. 

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