The use of derivatized cyclodextrins as solubilizing agents in the preparation of macroporous polymers employed as amphiphilic continuous beds in capillary electrochromatography

CEC: selected developments that caught my eye since the year 2000

During the last decade, a number of new developments have emerged in the field of CEC. This paper focuses only on monolithic columns prepared from synthetic polymers. Monolithic columns have become a well-established format of stationary phases for CEC immediately after their inception in the mid-1990s. They are readily prepared in situ from liquid precursors. Also, the control over both porous properties and surface chemistries is easy to achieve. These advantages make the monolithic separation media an attractive alternative to capillary columns packed with particulate materials. Since the number of papers concerned with just this single topic of polymer-based monolithic CEC columns is large, this overview describes only those approaches this author found interesting.

Investigation of the ion-exchange properties of methacrylate-based mixed-mode monolithic stationary phases employed as stationary phases in capillary electrochromatography

The potential of methacrylate-based mixed-mode monolithic stationary phases bearing sulfonic acid groups for the separation of positively charged analytes (alkylanilines, amino acids, and peptides) by capillary electrochromatography (CEC) is investigated. The retention mechanism of protonated alkylanilines as positively charged model solutes on these negatively charged mixed-mode stationary phases is investigated by studying the influence of mobile phase and stationary phase parameters on the corrected retention factor which was calculated by taking the electrophoretic mobility of the solutes into consideration. It is shown that both solvophobic and ion-exchange interactions contribute to the retention of these analytes. The dependence of the corrected retention factor on (1) the concentration of the counter ion ammonium and (2) the number of methylene groups in the alkyl chain of the model analytes investigated shows clearly that a one-site model (solvophobic and ion-exchange interactions take place simultaneously at a single type of site) has to be taken to describe the retention behaviour observed. Comparison of the CEC separation of these charged analytes with electrophoretic mobilities determined by open-tubular capillary electrophoresis shows that mainly chromatographic interactions (solvophobic and ion-exchange interactions) are responsible for the selectivity observed in CEC, while the electrophoretic migration of these analytes plays only a minor role.

Study of the complexation of different methacrylates with cyclodextrins employing a combination of electrophoretic, chromatographic, and NMR-spectroscopic methods

The present study describes the application of capillary electromigration techniques; CEC and micellar EKC (MEKC), and the application of spectroscopic methods; 1H NMR and 1H NOESY spectroscopy to investigate interactions between CDs (alpha-CD, statistically methylated beta-CD, hydroxypropyl-beta-CD, and 2-hydroxypropyl-gamma-CD) and different methacrylates (adamantyl, isobornyl, cyclohexyl, and phenyl methacrylate). It is shown that these methods complement each other. While CD-mediated MEKC is a rapid screening technique for comparing complex stabilities in aqueous media, 1H NMR chemical shift analysis provides quantitative data for very strong methacrylate-CD complexes and CD-mediated CEC provides quantitative data for complexes with lower complex forming constants. CD-mediated MEKC did not prove to be suitable for the calculation of complex forming constants. Reasons are discussed. 1H NOESY spectra were used to study spatial relationships between host and guest atoms.