Thermodynamic investigations on shape selective separation behaviors of poly(4-vinylpyridine)-grafted silica for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in both normal-phase and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

With the successful implementation of poly(4-vinylpyridine)-grafted silica prepared by grafting-from approach (GF-VPn) as a stationary phase for the separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in normal-phase HPLC, this paper describes the chromatographic retention behaviors of PAHs with GF-VPn in reversed-phase HPLC. Significantly higher retention factor along with enhanced shape selectivity were observed with GF-VPn. Thermodynamic study on the retention behaviors of PAHs with GF-VPn in normal-phase and reversed-phase HPLC revealed that retention of PAHs was exothermic in both phases. Furthermore, higher entropic contribution was observed in reversed-phase HPLC compared to normal-phase HPLC.