The influence of end-capping on the enantioselectivity of a chiral phase

Summary

The effect of end-capping chiral stationary phases (CSP's) derived fromN-(2-naphthyl)alanine undecyl ester has been examined using either trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS), hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), or bis(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) as end-capping reagents. The separation factor (α) and capacity factor (k′) of the enantiomers ofN-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)leucine octadecyl amide andN-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)alanine butyl ester were evaluated on three columns all packed with material from the same batch of stationary phase. These columns were essentially identical before, but not after end-capping with the above reagents. TMCS and HMDS were found to be superior to BSTFA, which appears to cause a significant loss of bonded phase from the silica surface. It seems that residual silanols affect the retention either by interacting with the analyte or by interacting with strands of stationary phase. End-capping usually increases enantioselectivity, sometimes by decreasing k′ for the first enantiomer and increasing k′ for the second enantiomer. The enhancement in enantioselectivity is greatest in relatively nonpolar mobile phases and occurs to a greater extent for phases having incomplete surface coverages.