The search for more pH stable stationary phases for high performance liquid chromatography

High performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) separations are largely carried out using reversed phase conditions with stationary phases based on silica. A serious problem with these stationary phases is the tendency of silica to dissolve in high pH solutions often needed to separate basic compounds. The literature reports many different ways that have been tried to resolve this problem. This paper reports the results obtained in our laboratory with stationary phases prepared using silica supports having a layer of a metal oxide (zirconia or titania) attached on their surfaces, followed by immobilization of a polysiloxane or by organofunctionalization with a trimethoxyalkylsilane. Stability tests, also developed in our laboratory, indicate that the metal oxide layer increases the HPLC column lifetimes by making the stationary phase less susceptible to dissolution. (author)