N-Methylimidazolium anion-exchange stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography

In this paper, the preparation of a new anion-exchange phase based on N-methylimidazolium immobilized on silica is described. HPLC separations of common inorganic anions, including an iodate, chloride, bromide, nitrate, iodide, and thiocyanate, were performed using a HPLC column (200 × 4.6 mm I.D.) packed with the said phase, and phosphate buffer solution and acetate buffer solution as the mobile phases respectively, with UV detection at 200 nm. The effects of pH and the concentration of the eluent on the separation of anions were studied. With the efficiency and resolution of the column calculated, the results showed that this new phase can be used in the analysis of these in organic anions with great prospects. At the same time, successful separations of some organic anions, amines and nucleotides have also been obtained respectively using this new phase. The phase displayed a main strong anion-exchange mechanism and a coexistent reverse-phase interaction, etc.