Prediction of gas chromatographic retention indices of polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes on non-polar columns

Quantitative structure-(chromatographic) retention relationships

Since the pioneering works of Kaliszan (R. Kaliszan, Quantitative Structure-Chromatographic Retention Relationships, Wiley, New York, 1987; and R. Kaliszan, Structure and Retention in Chromatography. A Chemometric Approach, Harwood Academic, Amsterdam, 1997) no comprehensive summary is available in the field. Present review covers the period of 1996-August 2006. The sources are grouped according to the special properties of kinds of chromatography: Quantitative structure-retention relationship in gas chromatography, in planar chromatography, in column liquid chromatography, in micellar liquid chromatography, affinity chromatography and quantitative structure enantioselective retention relationships. General tendencies, misleading practice and conclusions, validation of the models, suggestions for future works are summarized for each sub-field. Some straightforward applications are emphasized but standard ones. The sources and the model compounds, descriptors, predicted retention data, modeling methods and indicators of their performance, validation of models, and stationary phases are collected in the tables. Some important conclusions are: Not all physicochemical descriptors correlate with the retention data strongly; the heat of formation is not related to the chromatographic retention. It is not appropriate to give the errors of Kovats indices in percentages. The apparently low values (1-3%) can disorient the reviewers and readers. Contemporary mean interlaboratory reproducibility of Kovats indices are about 5-10 i.u. for standard non polar phases and 10-25 i.u. for standard polar phases. The predictive performance of QSRR models deteriorates as the polarity of GC stationary phase increases. The correlation coefficient alone is not a particularly good indicator for the model performance. Residuals are more useful than plots of measured and calculated values. There is no need to give the retention data in a form of an equation if the numbers of compounds are small. The domain of model applicability of models should be given in all cases.

Speciation of alkylated dibenzothiophenes through correlation of structure and gas chromatographic retention indexes

The gas chromatographic (GC) speciation of polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASH) in deeply desulfurized fuels is difficult without recourse to authentic standard compounds. Here we investigate the GC retention indexes for 30 alkylated dibenzothiophenes on two methylphenylsiloxane stationary phases of different selectivity (5% and 50% phenyl groups) with a view to avoid the synthesis of all congeners. The influence of the substitution pattern on the retention indexes is discussed. With the measured data it is possible to carry out a multiple linear regression (MLR) to calculate parameters for predicting the retention indexes of unknown polymethylated isomers based only on their structural features. Nine trimethyldibenzothiophene in a synthesis product are identified through their retention indexes. The retention indexes for a total of 43 alkyldibenzothiophenes are listed.

Group separation of organohalogenated compounds by means of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

Separations of 12 compound classes, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), naphthalenes (PCNs), dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs), dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), terphenyls (PCTs) and alkanes (PCAs), toxaphene, organohalogenated pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography were evaluated. Five column combinations, DB-1 x 007-210, DB-1 x HT-8, DB-1 x LC-50, DB-1 x 007-65HT and DB-1 x VF-23ms were used to study, primarily, group-type separations, but attention was devoted also to within-class separation, especially for those classes which were not addressed in much detail before, the PCNs, OCPs, PBBs and PCTs. The DB-1 x 007-210 column set did not offer any extra separation compared to one-dimensional GC. For the DB-1 x HT-8 column combination, the useful principle of congener separation on the basis of number of halogen substituents in a molecule was confirmed (PCBs, toxaphene) and extended (PCTs, PBDEs). No practically useful group-type separation was observed for this column combination. The DB-1 x LC-50 set provides group separation based on planarity: planar compounds such as PCDDs, PCDFs, PCDTs and PCNs are much more retained than, and therefore separated from, non-planar analytes. Within the classes of PCBs, PBBs and PCTs highly useful separation of planar from non-planar compounds was also observed. The DB-1 x 007-65HT column set effectively separates PCAs and PBDEs from all other compound classes, and provides a good separation of brominated and chlorinated analogue classes from each other. This column set was the most efficient one for within-class separation of OCPs and PCNs. Finally, DB-1 x VF-23ms yields excellent within-class separations, especially of non-aromatic compounds, viz. OCPs, toxaphene and PCAs. No group separation was observed here. The applicability of the approach was demonstrated for a sediment extract and a dust extract. In the sediment extract, PCDDs, PCDFs, PCAs and PCNs were identified and their efficient separation was achieved. In the dust sample, separation of PCAs and PBDEs was achieved and several new PBDE congeners were identified.