The retention of selenium chains in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary Organic polyselenides in which the selenium chains are terminated at both ends by ethyl-thio, butyl-thio, phenylthio, or phenyl groups were prepared. Their chromatographic behavior in HPLC on a bonded octadecyl phase with entirely or mainly methanolic eluents was investigated and compared with the corresponding polysulphides. The retention increment per Se atom is greater than that for S atoms. The ratio of Se to S increments is equal to the ratio of surface area increments. The S−Se bond does not have an appreciable influence on retention. Bonded to phenyl, selenium increases retention to the same extent as sulphur does. Some of the RSSe_nSR solutes were identified by mass spectrometry and other techniques.