Retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in microcolumn liquid chromatography with acridine derivative as stationary phase Original Research Article

Retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on an acridine derivative stationary phase was examined in microcolumn liquid chromatography. 3,6-Bis(dimethylamino)-10-dodecylacridinium was electrostatically introduced into a cation-exchanger, and its selectivity was compared with that of octadecylsilyl-bonded silica gel. The former stationary phase provided smaller retention for non-planar PAHs than that achieved by the latter stationary phase. The results suggest that interaction between PAHs and the acridinyl ring dominates the retention of PAHs, and preferential retention of planar PAHs is attributed to the fact that they have more chance to interact with the acridinyl ring of the stationary phase than non-planar PAHs.