A star-shaped polymer (Star-PEG-PCL2) was synthesized with PCL and PEG and used as a stationary phase for gas chromatography. The statically coated Star-PEG-PCL2 column exhibited an efficiency of 2260 plates/m determined by naphthalene at 120 °C and moderate polarity. The Star-PEG-PCL2 column showed high resolution performance for isomers of a wide ranging polarity, including methylnaphthalenes, halogenated benzenes, nitrobenzene, phenols, and anilines, and displayed dual-nature selectivity for a mixture of 17 analytes. Also, the Star-PEG-PCL2 column exhibited good separation performance and column inertness for Grob test mixture and a series of cis-/trans-isomers. In addition, it exhibited advantageous separation performance over the commercial HP-35 and PEG-20M columns for chloroaniline and bromoaniline isomers through its unique three-dimensional framework. In conclusion, it has good potential as a new stationary phase for separating a variety of analytes because of its special structure and excellent separation performance.
Keywords: capillary gas chromatography; separation performance; star-shaped polymer; stationary phase.