The use of deuterated solvents in high-performance liquid chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry

Summary Deuterated compounds have been used as mobile phases for microcolumn high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) employing flow-cell Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for detection. Separations were carried out on adsorption, reversed-phase, non-aqueous size-exclusion and aqueous size-exclusion chromatographic columns. Due to the IR transparency of deuterated compounds in a C–H stretching region they represent nearly ideal eluents in terms of universal detection. In addition, due to the shift in the absorption wavenumber following deuteration, deuterated solvents allow FTIR detection of solutes in other regions, where otherwise it would be prohibited, or sensitivity sacrified by interfering solvent absorption.