Selectivity evaluation of core-shell silica columns for reversed-phase liquid chromatography using the solvation parameter model

Abstract

For the selectivity evaluation of core-shell silica, siloxane-bonded reversed-phase columns by the solvation parameter model a minimal set of thirty-five calibration compounds were identified for applications with mobile phases containing from 20-70 % (v/v) methanol- or acetonitrile-water. The Kennard-Stone uniform mapping algorithm was employed to select the calibration compounds from a larger database of compounds with known retention properties used previously for column selectivity evaluation. The number and identity of the calibration compounds was optimized by considering the statistical quality of the calibration models, the absolute value for the standard deviation of the individual system constants, and the closeness of the estimated system constants for the calibration models to the values for the full data set on seven core-shell columns with different morphology for mobile phases containing 50 % (v/v) methanol- or acetonitrile-water. The predictive capability of the calibration models was evaluated for an external test set for 50 % (v/v) methanol-water for the same columns with a typical root mean square error of prediction (log k) of 0.028 for the thirty-five calibration compounds (n = 35) models. For all columns and mobile phase compositions the calibration models with n = 35 had a range for the coefficient of determination from 0.999 to 0.970 with < 5 % smaller than 0.99 (84 models) and a standard error of the estimate from 0.011 to 0.057 with 75 % < 0.030. System constants determined at 10 % (v/v) increments of organic solvent were utilized for the construction of system maps and correlation diagrams on Kinetex columns with octadecylsiloxane-bonded (C18 and EVO C18), diisobutyloctadecylsiloxane-bonded (XB-C18) octylsiloxane-bonded (C8), biphenylsiloxane-bonded (Biphenyl), phenylhexylsiloxane-bonded (Phenyl-Hexyl) and pentafluorophenylpropylsiloxane-bonded (F5) silica stationary phases for 20-70 % (v/v) methanol- and acetonitrile-water mobile phases. System maps for the Kinetex Phenyl-Hexyl column and correlation diagrams for columns of similar selectivity (Kinetex C8 and Phenyl-Hexyl) and dissimilar selectivity (Kinetex EVO C18 and Biphenyl) is used to illustrate the general approach to selectivity evaluation.