Quantitative explanation of retention mechanisms of hydrophobic and hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography-inductive effect of alkyl chain

Abstract

The basic retention mechanisms of reversed-phase and hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) were quantitatively analyzed using simple molecular mechanics (MM) calculations. The model bonded phases were composed of an alkyl chain bonded to siloxane-like molecules. The head of the alkyl chain was a hydroxyl group, used to study retention mechanisms of HILIC. The standard analytes were benzoic acid, aniline, benzene, water, and acetonitrile. The molecular interaction (MI) energy values of the van der Waals (VW) force were predominant for the reversed-phase chromatography, and those of hydrogen bonding (HB) were predominant for HILIC. Up to 5 units of methylene affected the MI.