Chromatographic classification and comparison of commercially available reversed-phase liquid chromatographic columns using principal component analysis

A total of 135 commercially available alkyl, cyano, phenyl, perfluorinated, polar embedded, enhanced polar selectivity (i.e., polar/hydrophilic endcapped), "Aqua type" and a variety of novel phases including some non-silica based stationary phases have been characterised in terms of their surface coverage, hydrophobic selectivity, shape selectivity, hydrogen bonding capacity and ion-exchange capacity at pH 2.7 and 7.6. Principal component analysis has been used to provide a simple graphical comparison of the differences/similarities between columns in the entire database and differing subsets such as "Aqua type"/enhanced polar selectivity phases. The PCA has been correlated to the phase's ability to analyse a range of hydrophilic bases.