EFFECT OF POLYSTYRENE-DIVINYLBENZENE RESIN SULFONATION ON SOLUTE RETENTION IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) resins were sulfonated under diffe rent conditions to give a series of resins with sulfonic acid capaciti es ranging from 0.27 to 2.63 mmol/g. Each of the resins was packed int o a conventional column and used for HPLC separation of various substi tuted benzenes using acetonitrile-water solutions as the mobile phase. In a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (30:70), a nearly linear decr ease in retention factor with increasing sulfonic acid capacity was no ted for a set of substituted benzenes (polar and non-polar). The reten tion factors at the highest sulfonic acid capacity studied (2.63 mmol/ g) were only 0.10 to 0.16 that of the unsulfonated resin. The sulfonat ed resins were also used for quasi-normal-phase separations of polar a nalytes such as glycols and sugars. In binary acetonitrile-water mobil e phases, retention factors increased in a regular fashion as the conc entration of acetonitrile was increased from 70 to 95%. Retention fact ors of the same analytes also increased substantially with increases i n sulfonic acid content of the resin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.