Elution behaviour of peropyrene-type polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in various chemically bonded stationary phases in reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

The elution behaviour of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, 13 of the 16 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority pollutants and peropyrene types) was studied on several chemically bonded stationary phases (octadecylsilicas, di- and triphenylsilicas, naphthylethylsilica and pyrenylethylsilica) under reversed-phase conditions. The results showed that the elution order of peropyrene-type PAHs is highly dependent on the degree of planarity of the solute and on the orderlines of the bonded phases, whereas no definite differences were found in the retention behaviour of the 13 small PAHs on various stationary phases. The characteristics of all the stationary phases could be classified by statistical cluster analysis.