Can anyone please let us know the method for purification / separation of fullerenes using HPLC or Preparative HPLC.
I had also found some literature for same by using Bucky prep Cosmosil Column by using Toluene as mobile phase.
So I have one more question that can we use 100% toluene as mobile phase with C18 /ODS columns (silica or resin based)
Phenomenex have an application note #5279, you could also try Thermofisher and Waters websites for application notes
Could you share with us what size fullerenes you wish to resolve apart (C60, C70, C78 or perhaps higher fullerenes C84, 96 ???)? Manufacturers have tailored several specialty columns to size these. In some cases, you can just use a regular C8 or C18 column, but not with pure toluene.
Example: if you just want to separate C60 from C70, a good quality C18 column (4.6 x 250mm) with a mobile phase of 60% IPA and 40% Toluene at 30C and 1 ml/min will often work as well or better than than the separations obtained with pure Toluene on a Cosmosil style column (Pure Toluene on a C18 column will not resolve them apart. Use a mixture). *Mobile phase mixtures of Toluene and Hexane or Toluene and IPA work well on conventional columns. The specialty column vendors tend to leave this information out of most of their brochures (or show an unfair example with pure toluene only) !
Gel columns can also be used in a SEC format too. Lots of options depending on exactly which sizes you need to resolve apart. I have copied a link to one of the column manufacturer's product notes below as an example.
www.hplc.eu/Downloads/COSMOSIL_Buckyprep_PBB.pd
It is possible to resolve fullerenes with a flash C18 column. See: http://www.isco.com/WebProductFiles/Applications/101/Application_Notes/AN92_Purification%20of%20C60%20Fullerene.pdf.
I also found that 60:40 2-propanol:toluene worked, as described by Dr. Letter.
For your second question, silica-based columns run quite well with organic mobile phases- it is called non-aqueous reverse phase, where an alcohol (2-propanol, in the example above) replaces the water, and toluene (in this example) replaces the organic solvent typically used. Since the mobile phase is still more polar than the C18, it is still reverse-phase. I wouldn't run this solvent system on a polymeric (resin based) column since the column packing may swell to extent that there is no flow through the column.
- Badges
- Science method