Comparative study of carbon nanotubes and C60 fullerenes as pseudo stationary phases in electrokinetic chromatography

The use of carbon nanostructures in different modalities is a topic of growing interest. This article provides a systematic comparison of surfactant-coated single-wall carbon nanotubes, multi-wall carbon nanotubes and C-60 fullerenes as pseudostationary phases (PSPs) in electrokinetic chromatography. The differences on the electrophoretic behaviour as a function of the pseudostationary phase for phenolic compounds, triazines and nitroimidazole derivatives have been explored. Phenolic compounds, triazines and nitroimidazole derivatives has been selected as model compounds of aromatic compounds, pi-exceeding heteroaromatic compounds and pi-deficient heteroaromatic compounds, respectively. Resolution was also evaluated on the basis of the differences in the electrophoretic behaviour and in this sense the best PSP for each group of compounds can be proposed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.