π-Selective stationary phases: (III) Influence of the propyl phenyl ligand density on the aromatic and methylene selectivity of aromatic compounds in reversed phase liquid chromatography

The retention characteristics of phenyl type stationary phases for reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography are still largely unknown. This paper explores the retention process of these types of stationary phases by examining the retention behaviour of linear PAHs and n-alkylbenzenes on a series of propyl phenyl stationary phases that have changes in their ligand density (1.23, 1.31, 1.97, 2.50 μmol m−2). The aromatic and methylene selectivities increased with increasing ligand density until a point where a plateau was observed, overall the propyl phenyl phases had a higher degree of aromatic selectivity than methylene selectivity indicating that these columns are suitable for separations involving aromatic compounds. Also, retention characteristics relating to the size of the solute molecule were observed to be influenced by the ligand density. It is likely that the changing retention characteristics are caused by the different topologies of the stationary phases at different ligand densities. At high ligand densities, the partition coefficient became constant.