Volume 46, Number 6 (November - December 2001)

Key words: silica modification, chemically bonded phases, separation, HPLC

Silica is the most widely used material in chromatography. Silica supports are commercially available with a large variety of particles size, shape, specific area and pore diameter. The silica surface chemistry is relatively well understood and moreover the surface can be easily modified. Large variety of modified silica packings is also available on the market. There are however several problems with the separation of basic compounds, limited pH stability and the irreproducibility of chemical modification of the same phases. This paper presents recent developments in modification of silica with chemically bonded phases, taking into consideration their advantages as well as disadvantages.