On the effect of chiral selector loading and mobile phase composition on adsorption properties of latest generation fully- and superficially-porous Whelk-O1 particles for high-efficient ultrafast enantioseparations

The adsorption isotherms of trans-stilbene oxide (TSO) enantiomers have been measured under a variety of normal phase (NP) mobile phases (MPs) on three Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phases (CSPs), prepared respectively on 1.8 μm and 2.5 μm fully porous particles (FPPs) and 2.6 μm superficially porous particles (SPPs). Specific loading of chiral selector (moles per square meter) of the two FPPs was about 20% smaller than that of SPPs (even if they were prepared under exactly the same experimental conditions). Regardless of particle size or format, adsorption was described by means of a Bilangmuir model with ethanol/hexane MPs. On the other hand, in pure hexane, the Tóth isotherm was employed. Interestingly, it was found that selective and nonselective Henry's constants vary in opposite directions by increasing the percentage of strong MP modifier (between 3 and 10%, v/v). Saturation capacity of SPPs (referred only to the porous zone of the particle) was remarkably smaller than those of FPPs. On the other hand, binding constants on both selective and nonselective sites were significantly larger on SPPs. Finally, a correlation between the specific loading of chiral selector and the binding constants of enantiomers was suggested by data, which can be important also to understand the kinetic behavior of these particles in chiral ultrafast applications.