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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Production and Targeting of Monovalent Quantum Dots
Published on: October 23, 2014
Graphene quantum dots-functionalized C18 hydrophobic/hydrophilic stationary phase for high performance liquid
Qi Wu1, Lixiao Chen1, Jie Gao1
1Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Abstract:
Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were chosen as functional material to improve the separation performance of C18 column since GQDs could provide multiple interactions such as hydrophilic, π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions. In this study, a novel octadecyl modified GQDs-bonded silica (C18/GQDs/SiO2) stationary phase was prepared and applied in reversed-phase and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. This column showed satisfactory separation performance for both hydrophobic, polar and hydrophilic compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkylbenzenes, anilines, phenols, aromatic acids, alkaloids, nucleosides and nucleobases. Through investigating the impact of organic solvent content on retention, it was found this new stationary phase had typical characteristics of hydrophobic/hydrophilic chromatography. Compared with commercial C18 column, this column showed better separation performance for polar aromatic compounds because the introduction of GQDs provided more interactions such as π-π stacking, hydrophilic and hydrogen bonding interaction with analytes. To get an in-depth understanding of the retention mechanism, linear solvation energy relationship model was established for both C18/GQDs/SiO2 and C18 columns, theoretically calculated data indicated that C18/GQDs/SiO2 column had higher π-π stacking and hydrogen-bonding acceptance ability. C18/GQDs composite stationary phase equipped with hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties has great prospect in separation science.
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