Hydroxyl-functionalized cyclotriveratrylene stationary phase for capillary gas chromatography

As a host molecular cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) possesses a crown (bowl-shaped) conformation and has an electron-rich cavity. In this study, we synthesized a hydroxyl-functionalized CTV (CTV-C10-OH) and, for the first time, employed it as a stationary phase for gas chromatography (GC), (CTV-OH, commercial HP-5 and HP-35 columns were selected as reference columns). The CTV-C10-OH capillary column (0.25 mm, i.d.) showed moderate polarity, with a column efficiency of 1857 plates/m determined using n-octanol. We investigated the separation ability and retention behavior of CTV-C10-OH by series of homologous compounds (n-alkanes, esters, 1-bromoalkanes, ketones, and n-alcohols), a mixture of 17 aromatic analytes and a mixture of 26 analytes. Furthermore, on the CTV-C10-OH column, baseline separation was achieved for six pairs of positional isomers (trimethylbenzene, dimethylnaphthalenes, nitrobenzaldehydes, dichlorobenzaldehyde, trichlorobenzenes, and xylenols). Finally, the detection of isomeric impurities in real samples provides strong evidence for the feasibility of GC analysis.