Dearest fellow scientists,
I've been trying analyze some ions with ion chromatography using suppressed conductivity detection. One of the ions im trying to measure is tertbutylammonium (TBA). Sadly I saw no elution of TBA and I have no idea why. TBA does not seem to show a peak, or elute at all.
I've tried to find literature as to why TBA does not elute but I couldn't find a lot of information. There was one article that examined the elution of TBA on silica and polymer based columns, and it stated that the elution was only possible on a silica-based column (Source: Article Ion Chromatographic Determination of Residual Phase Transfer...
).Sadly the article does not explain why the elution was not possible on polymer-based columns, and I want to know why. I'm also questioning the validity of the information, so I decided to ask the experts at ResearchGate :)
Specs of my instrument:
- Dionex ICS-6000
- Dionex CS18 2x250mm cation exchanger column
- Dionex ICS-6000 Dual pump
- Dionex ICS-6000 Eluent Generator
- Dionex ICS-6000 CS-6_cation conductivity detector
Specs of my method:
- Injection volume: 5 microliters
- Flow: 0.25 mL/min
- Mobile phase: Gradient (shown in the attached figure)
- Column temperature: 30 degrees Celsius
- Amperage of the suppressor: 30 mA
- Runtime: 30 minutes
If there's any additional information required, let me know! Thank you in advance.
Is it really tert-butylammonium? Or Tetrabutylammonium?
What is the solvent (or both solvents forming the gradient)?
The retention time of hydrophobic tetrabutylammonium cation containing sixteen carbon atoms depends strongly on the hydrophobicity of your chromatographic column/resin, so you need to use acetonitrile in the eluent to get elution or to use very hydrophilic IC column.
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