Novel imidazolium stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography

A new imidazolium anion-exchange phase immobilized on silica is synthesized. HPLC separations of common inorganic anions (IO3−, Cl−, NO2−, Br−, NO3−, I−, SCN−) have been performed using a HPLC column (200 mm × 4.6 mm I.D.) packed with this stationary phase, with a phosphate buffer solution as the mobile phase and UV detection at 200 nm. The effects of pH and concentration of eluent on the separation of anions have been studied. Chromatographic parameters are calculated and the results show that the new stationary phase is of significant potential for the analysis of these anions. Successful separations of some ordinary organic anions have also been achieved with the said stationary phase. Meaningfully, organic and inorganic anions can be determined simultaneously and satisfactorily with several neutral compounds using the column. The separation of some organic compounds including hydroxybenzenes, bases and amines by this stationary phase with only water as the eluent has been investigated.