Influence of intermolecular interaction with the eluent on the retention of phenol and aniline on polar and non-polar surfaces

Summary The retention order of aniline and phenol on hydroxylated silica gel surface is reversed with the increase of the concentration of a polar component in the eluent. At minor (about 1%) concentrations of isopropanol in hexane aniline emerges first followed by phenol, the elution order being reversed with the increase of isopropanol concentration above 2%. The same behaviour is observed for silica gel with chemically bonded C₁₆ n-alkyl groups and for porous styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer. In all these cases the retention depends to a great extent on substance-eluent intermolecular interactions. At high isopropanol concentration in hexane the rise of column temperature changes the retention order of aniline and phenol on silica gel with hydroxylated surface since the association of these molecules with isopropanol as well as the isopropanol adsorption weaken as the temperature increases.