Adsorption mechanisms and effect of temperature in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. meaning of the classical...

The effect of temperature on the adsorption and retention behaviors of a low molecular weight compound (phenol) on a C18-bonded silica column (C18-Sunfire, Waters) from aqueous solutions of methanol (20%) or acetonitrile (15%) was investigated. The results of the measurements were interpreted successively on the basis of the linear (i.e., overall retention factors) and the nonlinear (i.e., adsorption isotherms, surface heterogeneity, saturation capacities, and equilibrium constants) chromatographic methods. The confrontation of these two approaches confirmed the impossibility of a sound physical interpretation of the conventional Van't Hoff plot. The classical linear chromatography theory assumes that retention is determined by the equilibrium thermodynamics of analytes between a homogeneous stationary phase and a homogeneous mobile phase (although there may be two or several types of interactions). From values of the experimental retention factors in a temperature interval and estimates of the activity coefficients at infinite dilution in the same temperature interval provided by the UNIFAC group contribution method, evidence is provided that such a retention model cannot hold. The classical Van't Hoff plot appears meaningless and its linear behavior a mere accident. Results from nonlinear chromatography confirm these conclusions and provide explanations. The retention factors seem to fulfill the Van't Hoff equation, not the Henry constants corresponding to the different types of adsorption sites. The saturation capacities and the adsorption energies are clearly temperature dependent. The temperature dependence of these characteristics of the different assorption sites are different in aqueous methanol and acetonitrile solutions.