Study on the Correlation Between Anthoxanthins Compounds' Reverse-Phase Chromatographic Behavior and Their Solubility

Based on the current state of research, the identification of flavonoid isomers still faces certain difficulties and challenges, and developing liquid chromatography separation conditions requires substantial resources. Therefore, this study constructed a quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) model for anthoxanthins in reverse-phase chromatography by exploring quantitative relationships between chromatographic retention time (t R ) and implicit solvent model solvation free energy and hydrogen bonding energies in the mobile phase. A database was compiled by calculating the molecular descriptors of 1023 hydroxy-substituted flavonoids. When using UHPLC-HRMS technology combined with a database to identify unknown anthoxanthins, this model provides auxiliary identification to enhance the accuracy of the identification results. The model was constructed using 11 modeling compounds and two molecular descriptors to achieve the goal of predict compound retention times. The chromatographic retention time of anthoxanthins exhibited a linear correlation with their solvation free energy in the mobile phase. Furthermore, the feasibility of calculating the hydrogen bonding energies between anthoxanthins and the mobile phase using quantum chemical methods based on electron density was demonstrated. This study provides novel insights into the reverse-phase chromatographic separation of structurally similar compounds, while the constructed database offers extensive data support for isomer research.