title: Multi-mode application of graphene quantum dots bonded silica stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: Graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which possess hydrophobic, hydrophilic, π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding properties, have great prospect in HPLC. In this study, a novel GQDs bonded silica stationary phase was prepared and applied in multiple separation modes including normal phase, reversed phase and hydrophilic chromatography mode. Alkaloids, nucleosides and nucleobases were chosen as test compounds to evaluate the separation performance of this column in hydrophilic chromatographic mode. The tested polar compounds achieved baseline separation and the resolutions reached 2.32, 4.62, 7.79, 1.68 for thymidine, uridine, adenosine, cytidine and guanosine. This new column showed satisfactory chromatographic performance for anilines, phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in normal and reversed phase mode. Five anilines were completely separated within 10min under the condition of mobile phase containing only 10% methanol. The effect of water content, buffer concentration and pH on chromatographic separation was further investigated, founding that this new stationary phase showed a complex retention mechanism of partitioning, adsorption and electrostatic interaction in hydrophilic chromatography mode, and the multiple retention interactions such as π-π stacking and π-π electron-donor-acceptor interaction played an important role during the separation process. This GQDs bonded column, which allows us to adjust appropriate chromatography mode according to the properties of analytes, has possibility in actual application after further research.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Yaming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Shuqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Hongdeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: wanglilvtao@163.com.
authors.forename: Litao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: zhaol@licp.cas.cn.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000032:analysis; D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D009705:Nucleosides / Q000032:analysis; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D000814:Aniline Compounds; D009705:Nucleosides; D010636:Phenols; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D006108:Graphite
keywords: Graphene quantum dots; Hydrophilic interaction chromatography; Multiple retention interactions; Stationary phases