Some ion-exchange resins for anion-chromatography

The quaternary ammonium salts, n-butyltrimethylammonium iodide, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyltrimethylammonium iodide, n-octadecyltrimethylammonium iodide and tri-n-dodecylmethylammonium iodide were synthesized from commercially available amines and together with n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide tested for retention by a series of macroreticular resins (XAD-2, XAD-4, XAD-7, XAD-8 and XAD-11) for use as "surface" ion-exchangers in the chromatography of anions. Exchange-capacity studies of the coated resins showed that the non-polar XAD-2 and XAD-4 resins had retention characteristics superior to those of the polar resins and that pore size in the resin was more important than surface area per unit weight of resin. Tri-n-dodecylmethylammonium salts in XAD-2 gave the highest exchange capacity, with best retention under elution conditions. Columns prepared from this anion-exchanger were used to separate and analyse simple mixtures of anions (chloride, nitrate and sulphate) each within the 1-30 ppm range, by single-column operation with indirect photometric detection and also by conductivity detection with background-ion suppression. Though of use for the determination of anions in simple mixtures, the resolution and performance were generally poorer than those displayed by a commercial (Dionex) column. This is at least partly attributable to the inferior column-packing properties of the granular XAD-resin.