Influence of temperature on retention and selectivity in reversed phase liquid chromatography

Abstract

The influence of temperature on retention and selectivity in reversed-phase liquid chromatography using a porous organic polymer stationary phase is quantitatively characterized using the solvation parameter model. The predominant influence of increasing temperature (20–60 °C) is to decrease the relative difference in the ease of cavity formation between the aqueous mobile phase and solvated sorbent and to decrease the hydrogen-bond acidity of the aqueous mobile phase, with other polar interactions affected to a lesser extent. Temperature variation and composition variation produce similar trends in retention, but within the easily accessible range for both variables, the capacity to change retention is much greater for composition variation than temperature variation. Temperature variation is a useful parameter for fine tuning an isocratic separation with an outcome that is easily predicted using the solvation parameter model.