REVERSIBLE SOLVENT AND TEMPERATURE INDUCED MONOMERIC-LIKE - POLYMERIC-LIKE TRANSITIONS IN ALKYL BONDED SILICA

The study of behaviour of homologous series (and more precisely, the plots of methylene selectivity versus the carbon number, n, of the alkyl chain of the homologue) on monomeric and polymeric phases in liquid chromatography enabled us to characterize two kinds of retention mechanism. These mechanisms are not independent; changes in the temperature or mobile phase composition allow passage from one to the other. The first, for which the methylene selectivity versus n decreases with a discontinuity, defines a retention mechanism where solutes are inserted between the grafted chains. It occurs for monomeric phases at ambient temperature, for polymeric phases at high temperature or with a strong solvent like THF, CH2Cl2, AcMe or CHCl3. The second gives a plot of methylene selectivity versus n with a maximum. It is consistent with a partition mechanism with total immersion of the solute in the bed of the stationary phase. It occurs for a polymeric phase at ambient temperature or for a monomeric one at low temperature.