Poly(ethylene oxide)-bonded stationary phase for separation of inorganic anions in capillary ion chromatography

•PEO-bonded stationary phase was formed by a single and simple step reaction.•Anions were successfully separated by ion exchange interaction.•Eluent cation was coordinated among the PEO chains and worked as the ion-exchange site.•Elution order was similar as those observed in common ion exchange chromatography.•Cations and anions of the eluent affected the retention of sample anions.

A tosylated-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) reagent was reacted with primary amino groups of an aminopropylsilica packing material (TSKgel NH2-60) in acetonitrile to form PEO-bonded stationary phase. The reaction was a single and simple step reaction. The prepared stationary phase was able to separate inorganic anions. The retention behavior of six common inorganic anions on the prepared stationary phase was examined under various eluent conditions in order to clarify its separation/retention mechanism. The elution order of the tested anions was iodate, bromate, bromide, nitrate, iodide, and thiocyanate, which was similar as observed in common ion chromatography. The retention of inorganic anions could be manipulated by ion exchange interaction which is expected that the eluent cation is coordinated among the PEO chains and it works as the anion-exchange site. Cations and anions of the eluent therefore affected the retention of sample anions. We demonstrated that the retention of the analyte anions decreased with increasing eluent concentration. The repeatability of retention time for the six anions was satisfactory on this column with relative standard deviation values from 1.1 to 4.3% when 10 mM sodium chloride was used as the eluent. Compared with the unmodified TSKgel NH2-60, the prepared stationary phase retained inorganic anions more strongly and the selectivity was also improved. The present stationary phase was applied for the determination of inorganic anions contained in various water samples.