Liquid Chromatographic Retention Behavior of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on a Novel Chitosan‐Based Stationary Phase Synthesized with a Trifunctional Cross‐Linker

Abstract

A novel cross‐linked chitosan phase was synthesized as a stationary phase in microcolumn liquid chromatography (micro‐LC). The cross‐linked chitosan phase was synthesized with a trifunctional cross‐linking reagent, 1,3,5‐triacryloyl‐1,3,5‐triazine (TAT), and the retention behavior for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was compared with that obtained on several commercially available stationary phases including monomeric and polymeric octadecylsilicas (ODSs). The results demonstrated not only the applicability of the newly‐synthesized cross‐linked chitosan phases as the stationary phase, but also a strong molecular planarity recognition power of the cross‐linked chitosan phase over typical polymeric ODS phase. The excellent molecular planarity recognition ability of the chitosan phase can be explained by a rigid phase structure due to the three‐dimensional cross‐linking with TAT molecules.

Keywords:

• Cross‐linked chitosan
• Stationary phase
• Retention behavior
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• Liquid chromatography
• Molecular planarity recognition

Acknowledgments

A part of this research was financially supported by Grant‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research [(B) No. 14340233] from The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Grant‐in‐Aid for Young Scientists [(B) No. 15750066] from The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), and a Research Project Grant (B) and a Research Grant for Young Faculties from Toyohashi University of Technology. The authors would like to thank Daito Chemical Industries and Dr. J. C. Fetzer for the donation of cross‐linking reagent and PAHs samples, respectively.

Financial support from The Tatematsu Foundation and The Ogasawara Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Engineering are also acknowledged.