Search for improved fluorinated stationary phases for separation of fluorine-containing pharmaceuticals from their desfluoro analogs

Evaluation of a several fluorine-containing stationary phases for the chromatographic separation of fluorine-containing pharmaceuticals from their corresponding desfluoro analogs revealed a number of perfluoroaryl and perfluoroalky stationary phases that afford good separations. These fluorous stationary phases exhibit greater retention for the fluorine-containing compounds relative to the H-containing analogs, consistent with a fluorophilic retention mechanism. While both perfluoroalkyl and perfluoroaryl stationary phases afford adequate resolution, the perfluoroaryl columns generally exhibit superior separation factor (alpha) and peak efficiency (N), resulting in faster baseline separations, with the Hypersil Gold PFP and Poroshell 120 PFP columns providing the best overall performance for the test group studied. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.