Recent advances in development and characterization of stationary phases for hydrophilic interaction chromatography

• Development of HILIC stationary phases in the past 5 years is reviewed.
• Different methods for characterizing HILIC systems are introduced.
• Comparison and classification of columns and evaluation of retentive interactions are covered.
• This review would be useful for selection of HILIC columns and method development.

Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) has been one of the most fascinating research branches in chromatographic field with great interest in separating polar and hydrophilic compounds. Many new stationary phases have been developed by introducing a variety of functional groups like zwitterionic groups, hydrophilic macromolecules and ionic liquids, which can provide a wide range of selectivity and applications. Accordingly, it poses a challenge for choosing an appropriate one from the diversity of HILIC columns. Some evaluation models and methods are constructed and used to characterize the retention mechanism of HILIC columns, such as the solvation parameter model and hydrophilic-subtraction model etc. The present review mainly summarized the development of HILIC stationary phases and the establishment of characterization approaches in the last five years.