Anion separation and preconcentration with cyclen and cyclen-resorcinarene derivatives

N-undecyl cyclen and a resorcinarene bowl bearing four cyclen arms have been applied as anion exchangers in ion chromatography by strong adsorption to a reversed-phase column. The column loaded with the resorcinarene bowl cyclen tetramer exhibited significantly better performance in anion separation than that with N-undecyl cyclen monomer in isocratic elution mode. Both columns were tested for polarizable anion preconcentration or removal. By changing the eluent type from sodium bicarbonate to sodium hydroxide, the degree of protonation of the cyclen molecules could be modified, and the column capacity for anion retention adjusted thereby. Capacity gradient elution was successfully applied to removing sample matrix ions in the preconcentration of perchlorate and perrhenate ions as example analytes.