Comparison of silica-based and polymer-based cation exchangers for the ion chromatographic separation of transition metals

Abstract

Silica gel- and polymer-based exchangers differ not only in the substrate but usually also in the structure of their sulphonic acid exchange group. The performance and chromatographic behaviour of modern macroporous poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) polymers of 5-μm particle size after surface sulphonation were examined. Further, two commercially available silica gel cation exchangers were investigated as references for what is now possible and how the chromatographic performance is influenced by the substrate and the structure of the exchange site. The influence of the capacity of surface-sulphonated exchangers for acid and complexing eluents, which are necessary when transition metals are to be separated, was studied. The interaction of polarizable metal cations with the π-system of the polymer depends on the resin capacity, and a comparable dependence for H + and complexing eluents was found. The distance of the functional group from the core influences the adsorption effects dramatically. Lowering the non-specific interaction increases the chromatographic efficiency rapidly. The performance of silica gel-based exchangers is nearly one order of magnitude better than that of surface-sulphonated exchangers. The selectivity of the exchangers investigated is strongly dependent on the structure of the exchange site and on the resin capacity.