Separation of isomeric naphthalenesulphonic acids by micro high-performance liquid chromatography with mobile phases containing cyclodextrin

Aromatic sulphonic acids are important dye intermediates and the determination of the individual isomers after their preparation by sulphonation of the parent aromatic hydrocarbon is important for the monitoring of the dye production process. For this purpose, either reversed-phase chromatography with mobile phases containing strong electrolytes as additives or capillary zone electrophoresis with working electrolytes containing cyclodextrins can be used to separate and determine not only individual sulphonation products with various numbers of sulphonic groups, but also various isomeric di- and trisulphonic acids. However, the separation of some isomers using either of the two techniques is not fully satisfactory. In the present work, HPLC with mobile phases containing cyclodextrins was employed to improve previously achieved separations of aromatic sulphonic acids. Because of the high cost of cyclodextrin, microcolumn HPLC with diode-array detection on the columns prepared in laboratory by supercritical fluid packing technique was employed for this purpose. Capillary columns packed with various octadecyl silica gel materials were compared and their stability and efficiency were found suitable for the separation of the compounds tested. The selectivity of separation of some isomers improved significantly with respect to the previous methods. Procedures were designed for separation and analytical control of technological processes producing dye intermediates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.