Pakistan Journal of Analytical & Environmental Chemistry (Dec 2007)
The Role Seemingly of Amorphous Silica Gel Layers in Chiral Separations by Planar Chromatography
Abstract
In planar chromatography, silica gel appears as the most frequently used adsorbent. Its preference as planar chromatographic stationary phase is due to its high specific surface area (ca. 700 m2 g-1) and relatively simple active sites (silanol groups, Si-OH). The high specific surface area of silica gel and a high density of coverage of its surface with the silanol active sites contribute jointly to an excellent separation performance of this adsorbent. In our experiments on chiral separation of the enantiomer pairs by planar chromatography, contradictory behavior of the silica gel layers versus the chiral compounds was observed. The migration tracks of chiral compounds in the ascending planar chromatographic mode were not vertical but bent on either side being a function of analyte chirality. This deviation of the analyte’s migration track was noticed, when using the densitometric scanner to quantify the respective chromatograms. In order to confirm the hypothesis as to the microcrystalline nature of silica gel used in liquid chromatography, it was further investigated through circular dichroism (CD) and the data thereof confirmed that the ‘chromatographic’ silica gels are not amorphous but microcrystalline, contributing to the (partial) horizontal enantioseparation of the antimer pairs. This paper summarizes the results of our investigation on the microcrystalline nature of silica gels used in planar chromatography and their impact on enantioseparation of the selected pairs of antimers.
