Effect of silica gel modification with cyclofructans on properties of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography stationary phases

► Two CF-based and bare silica SPs were compared in terms of separation performance. ► Modification of silica gel with CFs resulted in improved separation performance. ► Interactions participating in the retention and separation mechanism were identified by LFER. ► The main interactions on CF-based SPs are hydrogen bond acidity and dipolarity/polarizibility. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) offers very good possibilities for separation of polar compounds as an alternative to reversed phase HPLC where polar compounds are not sufficiently retained. HILIC is becoming more popular for the analysis of biologically interesting (active) analytes. Various stationary phases are commercially available however, development of new materials (sorbents) suitable for HILIC systems still continues. Silica gel columns can be used directly but their modification can improve separation ability of the stationary phases. Cyclofructan-based stationary phases are demonstrated as possible HILIC columns in this work. The effect of silica gel modification by cyclofructan and a derivatized cyclofructan was studied in detail. HILIC separation systems with silica gel, cyclofructan and isopropyl cyclofructan modified silica stationary phases were compared. The detailed study of chromatographic behavior of peptides revealed that multimodal retention mechanism is present in systems with these stationary phases. Mobile phase composition changes the types of interactions and their strengths. It appears that ability to donate protons and dispersion forces are the main interactions that affect retention in HILIC with cyclofructan-based columns while they are less important in separation systems with bare silica stationary phase. Suitability of cyclofructan-based stationary phases in HILIC for separation of pentapeptides and nonapeptides was demonstrated.