Liquid Chromatographic Characteristics of Ethylenethiourea with HPLC Carbon,Chiral, Polymer and Reverse-Phase Bonded Silica Columns

Abstract

Of the columns investigated, the graphitised carbon column provided the best chromatographic characteristics for the highly water-soluble compound ethylenethiourea (ETU). The stability of the carbon column in strongly acidic media permitted the incorporation of the phosphoric acid electrolyte into the 5% acetonitrile-in-water mobile phase. ETU eluted from the column in 200 s as a sharp symmetrical peak at a mobile phase flow rate of 1 mL/min and a column temperature of 35°C. The k' value was 1.72. ETU peak retention times and responses showed excellent repeatability with coefficients of variation of 0.28 and 1.40%, respectively, for 6 replicates with the high performance liquid chromatographic-electrochemical system using the graphitised carbon column. Although ETU eluted as a sharp symmetrical peak with the cyclodextrin chiral columns, their instability at low pH required post-column addition of the phosphoric acid electrolyte solution. ETU chromatographed poorly or degraded on the polymer columns. The chromatographic separation of ETU on the C-8 reverse-phase bonded silica column appeared to be due mainly to residual silanol groups. With the NH₂ bonded silica column ETU eluted immediately after the injection solvent.