Prediction of the chromatographic retention of saturated alcohols on stationary phases of different polarity applying the novel semi-empirical topological index Original Research Article

The novel semi-empirical topological index (IET), previously developed by Heinzen and Yunes, was extended to predict the chromatographic retention of saturated alcohols on low polarity stationary phases (OV-1). The predictive ability of IET was also verified on stationary phases of different polarity (SE-30, OV-3, OV-7, OV-11, OV-17 and OV-25). Simple linear regressions between the retention indices and the semi-empirical topological index (RI=a+bIET) were established for each stationary phase separately, showing good statistical parameters. Statistical analysis showed that the QSRR model used on stationary phases of low polarity (OV-1) has high internal stability and good predictive ability for external groups. The polarity of the SE-30, OV-3, OV-7, OV-11, OV-17 and OV-25 stationary phases, indicated by retention polarity (PR) given by Tarján et al., is reflected in the ‘a’ (intercept) and ‘b’ (slope) coefficients of the equations obtained for each of these phases. The linear relationship between the ‘a’ coefficient and PR showed satisfactory statistical quality. Thus, it was possible to generate a single combined model of QSRR, including a parameter that represents the property of the stationary phase PR. The combined model also has a satisfactory predictive quality, as shown by the plot of calculated versus experimental retention indices for saturated alcohols on six stationary phases of different polarity (r2=0.9956; S.D.=9.54).