Evaluation of the Kinetic Performance Differences between Hydrophilic-Interaction Liquid Chromatography and Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography under Conditions of Identical Packing Structure

A protocol using trifluoroacetic acid at a temperature of 60 °C is developed for the adequate removal of the stationary phase of reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) columns. This procedure allows for studying the same column first under RPLC and subsequently under hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) conditions to isolate intrinsic differences between mass transfer properties in HILIC and RPLC from differences in packing quality. The established procedure allows for a complete removal of the stationary phase (confirmed by retention studies and thermogravimetry analyses) while leaving the structure of the packing unaffected (witnessed by an unchanged external porosity and pressure drop). Accurate plate height analysis comparing compounds at the same zone retention factor indicates a significant difference in reduced c-term (typically 40–80% larger under HILIC conditions), despite the columns otherwise being identical. Correcting for the known contributions of longitudinal diffusion (b-term) and mass transfer (c m- and c s-term) to focus on band broadening originating from eddy dispersion, similar strong differences are observed (differences of some h = 0.3 up to 1.2). These findings show that the interior structure and retention mechanism of the particles have a very strong effect on the observed eddy dispersion, a factor typically ascribed to phenomena occurring outside the particles. This also implies that comparing the quality of packings of different particle types is virtually impossible without the availability of a sound model to correct for the intraparticle effect on the observed eddy dispersion.