Calixarenes as stationary phases in high performance liquid chromatography

Calixarenes are a class of host molecules with three-dimensional cavity capable of accepting guest molecules. The interest of calixarenes in analytical and separation chemistry has increased in recent years because of their ability to form reversible complexes with both neutral and charged molecules. Calixarenes have been utilized in gas chromatography, solid-phase extraction, capillary electrophoresis and overall in high performance liquid chromatography. This short review is focused on recent advances in synthesis and characterization of calixarene, calixresorcinarene and calixpyrrole stationary phases, chemically bonded or dynamically adsorbed onto silica gel or used as mobile phase additives, and its application to separation of organic and inorganic solutes by high performance liquid chromatography.