Phenylaminopropyl silica – a new specific stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography of phenols

The chromatographic properties of a new stationary phase, phenylaminopropyl silica (PhA-silica), containing phenylaminopropyl residues covalently bonded to the silica surface were studied. The presence of secondary amino groups, phenyl rings and alkyl linkers in the attached molecule makes it especially suitable for the separation of phenols by mixed mode retention mechanism including a combination of hydrogen-bonding, hydrophobic, electrostatic and π–π interactions with the stationary phase. The effects of mobile phase pH, ionic strength, nature and concentration of organic modifier on the retention of phenols on PhA-silica were investigated under conditions of reversed-phase HPLC. To elucidate the role of the amino group in the attached molecule in retention of phenols the selectivity of PhA-silica was compared with that obtained for phenylpropyl silica in the framework of a linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) model. The isocratic separation of phenol, and its nine methyl-, chloro- and nitro-substituted derivatives was achieved on a 150×4.6 mm I.D. chromatographic column packed with 7 μm particles of PhA-silica.