Capillary GC using pyridyl β‐cyclodextrin stationary phase

A new β‐CD derivative, heptakis 2,6‐di‐O‐pentyl‐3‐O‐(4′‐chloro‐5′‐pyridylmethyl)]‐β‐CD, was synthesized by the selective introduction of a pyridyl group on the 3‐positions of β‐CD. The chromatographic properties of the pyridyl β‐CD derivative were studied by using it as the stationary phase in capillary GC. The polarity of the prepared stationary phase was moderate, and the separation results demonstrated that the prepared stationary phase possessed excellent separation ability and chiral recognition for a wide range of analytes. Not only the aromatic positional isomers, such as o‐, m‐, p‐xylene and α‐, β‐naphthol isomers, but also some compounds with multi‐stereogenic centers, such as n‐(1‐methylpropyl)‐3‐(2,2‐dichloroethenyl)‐2,2‐dimethylcyclopropanecarboxamide and n‐(1‐methylpropyl)‐3‐(2‐chloro‐3,3,3‐trifluoropropenyl)‐2,2‐dimethylcyclopropanecarboxamide with three stereogenic centers including eight configurational isomers, were successfully separated. The results also indicated that the polarity of the β‐CD derivative, and the hydrogen bonding between the β‐CD derivative, and the analytes had a very important effect on separation.