Preparation and chromatographic performance of a eugenol-bonded silica gel stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

A eugenol-bonded silica gel stationary phase (EGSP) for high performance liquid chromatography ( HPLC) has been synthesized by the solid-liquid successive reaction method. The preparation process included two steps: firstly, γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxy-silane (KH-560) was covalently attached to the surface of spherical silica gel. Then the bonded silica gel continued to react with eugenol ligand, which was a plant active component, and obtained EGSP. The structure of EGSP was characterized by elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Using naphthalene as a probe, the column efficiency was tested under the mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (35:65, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The chromatographic properties and the retention mechanism of EGSP were evaluated by using neutral, basic and acidic analytes as solute probes. Meanwhile, the comparative study with C18 column and phenyl column was also carried out under the same chromatographic conditions. The result showed that the eugenol ligand was successfully bonded to the surface of silica gel with a 0.28 mmol/g of bonded amount, and the theoretical plate number of EGSP column was about 24 707 N/m. The EGSP appeared to be a kind of excellent reversed-phase stationary phase with suitable hydrophobicity and various synergistic sites. The eugenol ligand bonded on silica gel could first provide π-π interaction sites for different analytes because of its benzene ring and alkenyl. In addition, the methoxy groups of eugenol were responsible for dipole-dipole and hydrogen-bonding interactions between the ligand and solutes in the effective separation process. Comparing with traditional C18 column and phenyl column, EGSP has an advantage in the fast separation of polar compounds under simple experimental conditions.