Investigations on the behavior of acidic, basic and neutral compounds in capillary electrochromatography on a mixed-mode stationary phase

This work describes the separation of acidic, basic and neutral organic compounds as well as inorganic anions in a single run by capillary electrochromatography employing a stationary phase which exhibits both strong anion-exchange and reversed-phase chromatographic characteristics. The positive surface charge of this stationary phase provided a substantial anodic electroosmotic flow. The analytes were separated by a mixed-mode mechanism which comprised chromatographic interactions (hydrophobic interactions, ion-exchange) as well as electrophoretic migration. The influence of ion-exchange and hydrophobic interactions on the retention/migration of the analytes could be manipulated by varying the concentration of a competing ion and/or the amount of organic modifier present in the background electrolyte. Additionally the effects of pH changes on both the chromatographic interactions as well as the electrophoretic migration of the analytes were investigated.