SEPARATION OF FULLERENES WITH LIQUID-CRYSTAL BONDED SILICA PHASES IN MICROCOLUMN HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

The liquid chromatographic separation of C-60 and C-70 fullerenes with liquid crystal bonded silica phases was carried out and the separation performance was evaluated with various mobile phase compositions and column temperatures. The results clearly indicate that one liquid crystal bonded phase possesses better retention capability and separation power for these fullerene molecules than commercially available octadecylsilica (ODS) phases. The capacity factors of C-60 and C-70 were 2.82 and 8.46, respectively, with n-hexane as the mobile phase. In contrast to the normal temperature dependency of the retention of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) versus column temperature, unusual behaviors for C-60 and C-70 have been observed with the liquid crystal phase.