Isocratic and gradient elution in micellar liquid chromatography with Brij-35

Polyoxyethylene(23)lauryl ether (known as Brij-35) is a nonionic surfactant, which has been considered as an alternative to the extensively used in micellar liquid chromatography anionic surfactant sodium lauryl (dodecyl) sulfate, for the analysis of drugs and other types of compounds. Brij-35 is the most suitable nonionic surfactant for micellar liquid chromatography, owing to its commercial availability, low cost, low toxicity, high cloud temperature, and low background absorbance. However, it has had minor use. In this work, we gather and discuss some results obtained in our laboratory with several β-blockers, sulfonamides, and flavonoids, concerning the use of Brij-35 as mobile phase modifier in the isocratic and gradient modes. The chromatographic performance for purely micellar eluents (with only surfactant) and hybrid eluents (with surfactant and acetonitrile) is compared. Brij-35 increases the polarity of the alkyl-bonded stationary phase and its polyoxyethylene chain with the hydroxyl end group allows hydrogen-bond interactions, especially for phenolic compounds. This offers the possibility of using aqueous solutions of Brij-35 as mobile phases with sufficiently short retention times. The use of gradients of acetonitrile to keep the concentration of Brij-35 constant is another interesting strategy that yields a significant reduction in the peak widths, which guarantee high resolution.