Analysis of basic compounds by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using hybrid inorganic/organic phases at high pH.

The retention and mass overload of five bases and a quaternary ammonium compound were studied on a bridged ethyl hybrid inorganic/organic phase (XBridge C18) over a pH range 2.7-12.0 using acetonitrile-phosphate and carbonate buffers. Some comparisons were drawn with results on a methyl hybrid (XTerra) phase. At low pH, rapid mass overload was observed with severe decreases in efficiency as sample mass was increased over the range 0.04-5 microg of solute. At intermediate pH (swpH 7.0), generally good peak shapes for small sample mass were still obtained on the ethyl hybrid, but with somewhat increased tailing of bases compared with swpH 2.7. At higher pH (swpH 10), good peak shape and improved loadability were obtained for moderately strong bases, due to their occurrence mostly as neutral species. However, stronger bases gave poor efficiency, attributed to interaction of the charged basic solute with increasingly ionised column silanol groups. Results were broadly similar on the methyl hybrid at swpH 10. At swpH 11, unusual profiles of increasing followed by decreasing efficiency were obtained on the ethyl hybrid for some bases as sample mass was increased; improved results were obtained at swpH 12. While the column loadability increased substantially at the highest pH studied, tailing for small sample mass was still more severe than at low pH, even though all compounds were <1% ionised in the mobile phase.

A study of retention and overloading of basic compounds with mixed-mode reversed-phase/cation-exchange columns in high performance liquid chromatography.

The retention and overload of bases were studied on two new mixed-mode, silica based phases possessing ionic carboxylate functionalities of different acidity embedded within a hydrophobic ligand (SiELC Primesep). At low pH, good peak shapes were obtained for small solute mass, suggesting that the mere presence of a mixed-mode hydrophobic/ionic retention mechanism is not responsible for the poor peak shape that can occur on conventional reversed-phases with ionised silanols. Somewhat inferior, but still acceptable peak shape for bases was obtained on a column containing a mixture of discrete ion exchange and reversed-phase particles (Hypersil Duet). In both types of column, the ionic sites favourably increased the capacity for ionised bases, reducing considerably the deterioration of peak shape with load observed with conventional RP columns. The combined ionic and reversed-phase interaction can give strong retention of bases under certain conditions, necessitating careful choice of stationary and mobile phase.

Study of overload for basic compounds in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography as a function of mobile phase pH.

The retention and overloading properties for eight basic solutes and two quaternary ammonium compounds were studied over the pH range 2.7-10.0 using phosphate and carbonate buffers. At low pH, a hybrid inorganic-organic silica-ODS phase (XTerra RP-18, 15 cm x 0.46 cm) showed substantial loss in efficiency when sample masses exceeded about 0.5 microg; these results were similar to those obtained previously on pure silica ODS and wholly polymeric phases, suggesting a common overloading mechanism. At pH 7-8.5, substantial improvements in loading capacity were obtained on XTerra due apparently to the unexpectedly strong influence of small decreases in solute ionisation. Data from the quaternary compounds suggested that silanol ionisation on this phase was still small even at intermediate pH. For many bases, loading capacity continued to improve as the pH was raised to 10, in line with the decrease in the proportion of ionised solute. However, for the highest pK(a) solutes, peak shape worsened at high pH, possibly due to the negative influence of increasing column silanol ionisation.