One-Step Solvothermal Synthesis of Sub-2-µm Sea Urchin-Like TiO2 Microspheres for High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Stationary Phase

Sub-2-µm sea-urchin-like TiO 2 microspheres were prepared through the one-step solvothermal method. Results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) show that there are a lot of nanorods coming out from the center of the TiO 2 microsphere, making it look like a sea urchin. The morphology and structure of these microspheres are very suitable for chromatographic packing. During the separation of inorganic anions on this new stationary phase, the retention mechanism is electrostatic interaction, and the pH of the mobile phase plays an important role in retention behaviors. With this new stationary phase for separation of organic anions and nucleobases, Lewis acid–base interaction is more outstanding, which can cause peak broadening and tail for larger conjugated structure compounds. The separation of aromatic hydrocarbons on this new stationary phase demonstrates that Lewis acid–base interaction has a favorable influence on the separation of electron-rich aromatic hydrocarbons under normal phase chromatographic conditions. Graphical abstract