Separation of isomers of nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Since positional isomers of several nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAH) contain widely different mutagenic properties, methods for separating the isomers were investigated. High performance liquid chromatography with dichloromethane in hexane on silica gave the best resolution for the majority of the compounds. A few groups of isomers were better resolved with other modifiers or with reversed phases. Of the reversed phase systems, methanol-water gave better resolution than acetonitrile-water. With dichloromethane/hexane on silica, the retention was found to depend on the presence of a bay nitro group (first), the number of H atoms peri to the nitro group (second), and the length/breadth ratio of the molecule (third). Front electron density calculations were combined with the structure-retention relations in making tentative structure assignments of minor isomers of nitro-PAH.