| Abstract: | The retention behaviour of protonated basic compounds in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, using methanol-water mixtures as the eluent, is reported. A minimum is found in the relationship between the logarithm of the capacity factor (log k) and the percentage of methanol (x) in the eluent. The deviation from linearity is postulated to be caused by a dual retention mechanism, namely polar interactions between the solute and eluent molecules in water-poor eluents, and hydrophobic expulsion in water-rich ones. The influence of the pH, pKa and lipophilicity on retention behaviour is also investigated. |
