Retention behavior of small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with cholesteryl 10-undecenoate bonded phase in microcolumn liquid chromatography

A novel chemically bonded phase was evaluated for its applicability in discriminating among polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in terms of molecular size, planarity, and shape selectivity. It was observed that planar molecules were more retained than nonplanar analogues and that the retention times of these planar molecules increased linearly with an increase of their molecular size. Separation of isomeric molecules can also be achieved to some extent by changing mobile phase compositions. This new materials show very similar characteristics to octadecylsilica (ODS) phases in molecular shape recognition, but the planarity recognition capability for small and medium size PAHs is higher than polymeric ODS phases, which are generally superior to monomeric ODS phase in planarity recognition. Overall, the present data gathered on the new bonded phase indicate its high applicability for PAH liquid chromatographic separations. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.