Separation of aliphatic carboxylic acids and benzenecarboxylic acids by ion-exclusion chromatography with various cation-exchange resin columns and sulfuric acid as eluent

The application of various hydrophilic cation-exchange resins for high-performance liquid chromatography (sulfonated silica gel: TSKgel SP-2SW, carboxylated silica gel: TSKgel CM-2SW, sulfonated polymethacrylate resin: TSKgel SP-5PW, carboxylated polymethacrylate resins: TSKgel CM-5PW and TSKgel OA-Pak A) as stationary phases in ion-exclusion chromatography for C1–C7 aliphatic carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, isovaleric, valeric, isocaproic, caproic, 2-methylhexanoic and heptanoic acids) and benzenecarboxylic acids (pyromellitic, trimellitic, hemimellitic, o-phthalic, m-phthalic, p-phthalic, benzoic, salicylic acids and phenol) was carried out using diluted sulfuric acid as the eluent. Silica-based cation-exchange resins (TSKgel SP-2SW and TSKgel CM-2SW) were very suitable for the ion-exclusion chromatographic separation of these benzenecarboxylic acids. Excellent simultaneous separation of these benzenecarboxylic acids was achieved on a TSKgel SP-2SW column (150×6 mm I.D.) in 17 min using a 2.5 mM sulfuric acid at pH 2.4 as the eluent. Polymethacrylate-based cation-exchange resins (TSKgel SP-5PW, TSKgel CM-5PW and TSKgel OA-Pak A) acted as advanced stationary phases for the ion-exclusion chromatographic separation of these C1–C7 aliphatic carboxylic acids. Excellent simultaneous separation of these C1–C7 acids was achieved on a TSKgel CM-5PW column (150×6 mm I.D.) in 32 min using a 0.05 mM sulfuric acid at pH 4.0 as the eluent.