Influence of stationary phase solvation on shape selectivity and retention in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

In the past few decades, shape selectivity has drawn a great deal of attention from chromatographers. The chemistry and characteristics of bonded stationary phases such as phase type, length of bonded phase, surface coverage, and silica surface material have an effect on the shape selectivity of the columns. Although the effects of bonded phase shape selectivity are relatively well understood, one remaining question is the effect of intercalated solvent on shape selectivity. The intercalation of organic modifier and water molecules into the stationary phase is believed to introduce more rigidity into bonded alkyl chains in RPLC. The use of gas chromatography (GC) opens a new dimension to approach this question. C18 columns 4 cm in length were prepared in our laboratory and used in both LC and GC experiments. Shape selectivity and thermodynamic constants for the transfer of a solute from the mobile phase to the stationary phase have been determined as a function of monomeric octadecyl stationary phase bonding densities over the range of 1.44–3.43 μmol/m2 and a polymeric phase (nominal surface coverage 4.77 μmol/m2). Comparing LC and GC experiments, we observed: (a) similar relationships between shape and phenyl selectivities with monomerically bonded C18 phase densities; (b) different correlation of thermodynamic quantities (ΔH°, ΔS°, and ΔG°) versus bonded phase densities. The effects of high temperature and residual silanol groups are sources of difficulty in elucidation of the intercalated mobile phase role in selectivity and retention for GC measurements.