1993 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 59-64
Micellar mobile phases allow the separation of ionic and nonionic compounds with a single mobile phase/column combination. Nonionic compounds such as phenols are separated together with metal ions using mobile phases containing anionic micelles and a suitable ligand. Also, the use of cationic micellar mobile phases permits the simultaneous separation of inorganic anions as well as nonionic compounds. In both cases, nonionic compounds are partitioned to the micelle and the stationary phase according to either the hydrophobicity or the lipophilicity, whereas inorganic ions electostatically interact. The separation of phenols is therefore described using an usual partition model; that of inorganic ions obeys a model involving ion-exchange equilibria. These models facilitate the prediction of the retention as well as the optimization of the separation.
