Efficient gas chromatographic separation of xylene and other aromatic isomers by using pillar[6]arene-based stationary phase

Tao Sun; Ruonan Chen; Qiuchen Huang; Mengyi Ba; Zhiqiang Cai; Haipeng Chen; Yueheng Qi; Hong Chen; Xianming Liu; Donatella Nardiello; Maurizio Quinto

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2023.340979

Efficient gas chromatographic separation of xylene and other aromatic isomers by using pillar[6]arene-based stationary phase

Anal Chim Acta. 2023 Apr 22:1251:340979. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340979. Epub 2023 Feb 17.

Authors

Tao Sun¹, Ruonan Chen², Qiuchen Huang², Mengyi Ba², Zhiqiang Cai³, Haipeng Chen⁴, Yueheng Qi⁴, Hong Chen⁴, Xianming Liu⁴, Donatella Nardiello⁵, Maurizio Quinto⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Key Laboratory of Function-Oriented Porous Materials, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, 471934, PR China. Electronic address: suntao2226@163.com.
² Liaoning Province Professional and Technical Innovation Center for Fine Chemical Engineering of Aromatics Downstream, School of Petrochemical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Liaoyang, 111003, Liaoning, PR China.
³ Liaoning Province Professional and Technical Innovation Center for Fine Chemical Engineering of Aromatics Downstream, School of Petrochemical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Liaoyang, 111003, Liaoning, PR China. Electronic address: kahongzqc@163.com.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Key Laboratory of Function-Oriented Porous Materials, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, 471934, PR China.
⁵ Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resource, and Engineering (DAFNE), via Napoli 25, I-71122, Foggia, Italy.
⁶ Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resource, and Engineering (DAFNE), via Napoli 25, I-71122, Foggia, Italy. Electronic address: maurizio.quinto@unifg.it.

PMID: 36925280
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340979

Abstract

The separation of aromatic isomers, in particular xylene isomers, represents a big issue in chemical and petroleum industries, owing to their similar molecular sizes and boiling points. In this work, the investigation ofpillar[6]arene derivative modified by long alkyl chains (P6A-C10) as a stationary phase for high-resolution gas chromatographic (GC) separations of xylene isomers is presented. Pillar[n]arenes are a new class of macrocyclic hosts that can accommodate specific guests due to their highly symmetrical and rigid pillar architectures with π-electron rich cavities. The P6A-C10 column showed high-resolution performance towards xylene isomers, with peculiar advantages if compared with the commercial HP-5, HP-35, DB-17, and PEG-20Mcolumns.A quantum chemistry calculation has been performed, showing a difference in non-covalent interactions with the P6A-C10 pillar framework, which leads to specific selectivity for xylene isomers.Furthermore, the P6A-C10 column exhibited good repeatability.

Keywords: Gas chromatography; Pillar[n]arenes; Separation; Stationary phase; Xylene isomers.