HPLC separation of hydrogenated derivatives of buckminsterfullerene

The effect of composition and flow rate of the mobile phase on the HPLC sep aration of hydrogenated buckminsterfullerene (C60Hn n = 2-38) was investiga ted on BuckySep column. Toluene was used as the basic solvent and hexane, h eptane, cyclohexane, THF, acetonitrile, acetone, ethanol and 2-propanol as co-solvents. The fraction of co-solvents was varied 10-80 %, and the flow r ate 1-0.1 mL min(-1). Toluene-acetonitrile 65:35 and toluene-acetone 50:50 provided the best separation. Under the best conditions complete separation of C60H2 and almost complete separation of the four most abundant isomers of C60H4 were achieved. Separation of derivatives with higher hydrogen cont ent was very poor.