HILIC with Alcohol as the Organic Modifier

Researchers from Amgen (Thousand Oaks, California) examined the separation mechanism in the analysis of polar and basic hydrazines using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) with alcohol rather than acetonitrile as a weak eluent. They studied separation parameters such as alcohol type and concentration, acid modifier, buffer in the mobile phase, stationary phase type, and column temperature. They found that both electrostatic and hydrophilic interactions contributed to the retention and separation of the hydrazines. The researchers coupled the optimized HILIC technique with chemiluminescent nitrogen detection for the hydrazine analysis.