Immobilized metallacarborane as a new type of stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatography

A new type of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) stationary phase was prepared, and its chromatographic properties were evaluated. The sorbent was composed of metallacarborane covalently bound to silica. Because of the chemical structure of the immobilized metallacarborane, the synthesized stationary phase was able to interact with nonpolar analytes via hydrophobic interactions. The chromatographic behavior of several low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons on the sorbent under typical reversed-phase conditions was compared with octadecyl-, sulfo phenyl- and aminopropyl-modified silica stationary phases. Moreover, as a consequence of the synthetic protocol employed, the immobilization of the metallacarborane led to the development of a zwitterionic chemically bonded phase, which demonstrated excellent resistance to “phase collapse” in a 100% aqueous environment. Finally, preliminary experiments indicated that the new stationary phase has the potential for utilization in hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) mode for the separation of polar compounds.