Separation of rare earth elements by high performance liquid chromatography using a covalent modified silica gel column

A new modified silica gel material with chemically bound phosphonic acid wa s tested as lanthanide ions adsorption and their basic characteristics (the rmodynamics, stability and physical description) studied. This inorganic ch emically active beads (ICABs) are suitable for the solid phase extraction ( SPE) and separation of the rare earth elements (REE). The HPLC procedure, u sing the 10 mum diameter ICAB with chemically immobilized phosphonic acid [ alpha]-hydroxyisobutyric acid (HIBA) as the eluent and the post-column deri vatization using Arsenate III as the reagent, was worked out and found effi cient to perform a good separation of REE. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.