Poly(butylene terephthalate)-coated silica (PBT) have been introduced as a stationary phase in liquid chromatography (LC) and the retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) was evaluated in reversed-phase LC. The trend for the retention was compared with that obtained on two types of commercially-available octadecylsilica (ODS) phases and phenylbutylsilica (PBS) phase. A good liner relationship between molecular size of planar PACs and the corresponding logarithmic retention

more »

... or was confirmed on the PBT stationary phase, and the trend is quite similar to that obtained on a conventional polymeric ODS stationary phase. In addition, a good molecular shape recognition capability of the PBT stationary phase was confirmed for several solute pairs consisted of planar and non-planar PACs with a similar two-dimensional molecular size. The selectivities to some planar/non-planar solute pairs on the PBT stationary phase were significantly better than conventional ODS phases, even when compared with that of typical polymeric ODS stationary phases operated in a similar experimental condition. In the case of structural isomers of dichlorobenzene and dibromobenzene, the elution order on the PBT stationary phase was o-, m-and p-, however the corresponding elution order in typical ODS phases, and PBS phase was different, o-, p-and m-. The results can be explained on the basis of the molecular-molecular interaction between the stationary phase ligand and the analyte molecule, because the PBT stationary phase has a similar partial chemical structure to these p-isomers on the silica support.