Retention characteristics of an immobilized artificial membrane column in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Retention for a varied group of compounds on an immobilized artificial membrane column (IAM PC DD2) with a methanol-water mobile phase is shown to fit a second-order model for the retention factor (log k) as a function of the volume fraction of organic solvent. The numerical value of the intercept obtained by linear extrapolation to zero organic solvent (log k(w)) is shown to depend on the range of mobile phase composition used for the extrapolation. Each series of intercepts so obtained represents a different hypothetical distribution system as identified by the system constants of the solvation parameter model. Although a linear model is a poor fit for isocratic retention data, the linear solvent strength gradient model provides a reasonable estimate of isocratic retention factor values that are (slightly) larger than experimental values, but provide the same chemical information for the system. These preliminary results suggest that gradient elution may prove to be a rapid and useful method for creating system maps for column characterization and method development. In this work a system map is provided for methanol-water compositions from 0 to 60% (v/v) methanol and additional system constants for acetonitrile-water compositions containing 20 and 30% (v/v) acetonitrile. It is shown that the main factors contributing to retention on the IAM PC DD2 column are favorable cavity formation and dispersion interactions, electron lone pair interactions and the hydrogen-bond basicity of the sorbent. The latter feature more than any other distinguishes the IAM column from conventional chemically bonded phases. Interactions of a dipole-type (weakly) and inability to compete with the mobile phase as a hydrogen-bond acid reduce retention. A comparison of system constant ratios is used to demonstrate that the retention properties of the IAM column are not easily duplicated by conventional chemically bonded phases. The retention characteristics of the IAM column, however, are strongly correlated with the retention properties of pseudostationary phases used for micellar electrokinetic chromatography, which provide a suitable alternative to IAM columns for physical property estimations. By the same comparative method it is shown that retention on the IAM column possesses some similarity to biomembrane absorption processes, allowing suitable correlation models to be developed for the estimation of certain biopartitioning properties.