The effects of pH and alcoholic organic modifiers on the direct separation of some acidic, basic and neutral compounds on a commercially available ovomucoid column

Abstract

The effects of alcoholic modifiers and pH on the chromatographic properties of an immobilized ovomucoid chiral stationary phase have been investigated using acidic, basic and neutral solutes. A series of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols and pH's ranging from 3.5 to 6.0 were used in this study. The results indicate that both the shape and the hydrophobicity of the alcoholic modifier affect retention (k') and enantioselectivity (α). In general, an increase in the hydrophobicity of the modifier results in a decrease in k's and α's. However, this is not the case whent-butanol is the modifier, suggesting that the size of the alkyl moiety attached to the carbinol carbon also contributes to the chromatographic results. The pH studies indicated that Coulombic interactions play a role in the retention of the acidic and basic solutes. The results also suggest that in addition to ethanol and 1-propanol,t-butanol should be considered during optimization and that maximum efficiencies may be obtained at pH 5.0.