Triptycene-based stationary phases for gas chromatographic separations of positional isomers

This work presents the investigation of two triptycene-based materials (TP-3OB and TP-3Im) as the stationary phases for gas chromatographic (GC) separations. The TP-3OB and TP-3Im capillary columns fabricated by static coating exhibited column efficiency of 3000–3500 plates/m for n -dodecane at 120 °C. Also, their McReynolds constants and Abraham system constants were determined to characterize their polarity and molecular interactions with analytes. On the basis of the unique 3D TP architecture, the TP-3OB and TP-3Im stationary phases exhibited complementary high-resolution performance for analytes of a wide ranging polarity, including alkylbenzenes , alkylnaphthalenes, halobenzenes, phenols and anilines, respectively. Moreover, the TP-based columns exhibited good repeatability and reproducibility on the retention times of analytes with the relative standard deviation (RSD) values in the range of 0.01–0.14% for run-to-run, 0.11–0.47% for day-to-day and 0.68–4.7% for column-to-column, respectively. Additionally, their applications for the determination of isomer impurities in the commercial reagents of o- dichlorobenzene , p-/m- diethylbenzene, o -toluidine and 2,3 -/ 3,5-xylidine proved their good potential for practical analysis. This work demonstrates the promising future of the triptycene-based stationary phases for chromatographic separations.