LINEAR POLYSTYRENE-GRAFTED SILICA-GELS FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Linear polystyrene, having a trimethoxysilyl group at one side of the terminal group, was newly synthesized and readily grafted onto porous silica gels using the terminal reactive group. Its packed column showe d good selectivity based on the pi-pi interaction for polyaromatics as well as the usual reversed-phase mode separation for alkyl compounds. The elution behavior (including the elution order) agreed with those that were observed in non-silica-supported poly(styrene-divinylbenzene ) spherical particles. However, the asymmetric factor (A(s)) of the el ution peaks for polyaromatics was much better in silica-supported poly styrene than in non-supported polystyrene; for example, the values of A(s) for triphenylene were 1.4 and 4.7, respectively. This difference is attributable to the flexibility of the polystyrene chain.