Correlation between the chromatographic poperties of silica phenyl packing materials and the retention behaviour of methylated β-cyclodextrins

Summary The chromatographic properties of five columns packed with phenyl-bonded phases were characterized by an approach based on Tanaka's method for column to column comparisons in order to develop an LC analysis of partially methylated β-cyclodextrins. The retention behaviour of β-cyclodextrin, heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin and heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin was examined in order to evaluate the different interactions between phenyl stationary phase and this family of compound. Chromatograms show that the residual silanol activity of the packing materials plays a beneficial role in the partially methylated β-cyclodextrins separation process. It is concluded that knowledge of the interactions involved allows one to make a reasoned choice of the stationary phase in order to obtain the best possible analysis of three different commercial samples of partially methylated β-cyclodextrins.