Determination of the relative impact of chromatographic conditions and solute structures on the retention behaviour of non-ionic surfactants in RP-HPLC
M. Balcan et al., Determination of the relative impact of chromatographic conditions and solute structures on the retention behaviour of non-ionic surfactants in RP-HPLC, BIOMED CHRO, 13(3), 1999, pp. 225-228
The retention behaviour of non-ionic surfactants containing different hydro
phobic moiety and various lengths of polar ethylene oxide chain was studied
on RP-8 and RP-18 columns using methanol and acetonitrile as organic modif
iers. The relative impact of the chromatographic conditions on the retentio
n strength was determined using stepwise regression analysis. Non-ionic sur
factants can be separated according to the character of the hydrophobic moi
ety, but not according to the length of the polar ethylene oxide chain. Cal
culations proved that the organic modifier exerted the highest impact on th
e retention; the effect of the number of carbon atoms in the hydrophobic mo
iety, column temperature and the length of the hydrophobic ligand on the su
rface of silica support are of secondary importance. Copyright (C) 1999 Joh
n Wiley & Sons, Ltd.