Eluotropic strength in non-aqueous liquid chromatography with porous graphitic carbon

Porous graphitic carbon is an attractive packing for the chromatographic analysis of highly hydrocarbonaceous compounds with non-aqueous mobile phase. An eluotropic-strength scale of 10 pure organic solvents was established using the methylene selectivity from the fatty acid methyl ester homologous series (chain length between 18 and 31 carbon atoms). Eight binary mobile phases combining a weak solvent: methanol or acetonitrile with a strong solvent: toluene, chloroform, dichloromethane or tetrahydrofuran at different volume fractions ϕ of strong solvents (ranging from 0.3 to 1.0) were tested and their eluotropic strengths were then compared with those of pure solvents. The curves of the eluotropic strength versus the volume fraction of the strong solvent followed two different trends: linear or curved. The knowledge of the pure solvent strength is not sufficient to predict the eluotropic strength of solvent in the mixture. Then modelling of the eluotropic strength for binary mobile phases was envisaged in order to provide a prediction tool. This model was assessed for the establishment of the composition of eight iso-eluotropic mobile phases. Good assessment was found except in the case of toluene with acetonitrile where the difference between the predicted and the real value was the highest.