Newly synthesized tetraoxa-diaza crown ether derivatives versus commercialized crown ethers in the separation of positional isomers with capillary electrophoresis

Abstract Three new tetraoxa-diaza derivatives of 1,4,10,13-tetraoxa-7,16-diazacyclo-octadecane ( R-1 , R-2 and R-3 ) and three commercially available crown ethers, 18-crown-6 (18C6), (+)-18-crown-6-tetracarboxilic acid (18C6H 4 ) and 1,4,10,13-tetraoxa-7,16-diazacyclo-octadecane, were investigated to separate the positional isomers of aminophenol, aminobenzoic acid and aminocresol. The running electrolyte, in which the crown ethers were dissolved, was a 50 mM Tris solution adjusted to pH 2.0 with hydrochloric acid. Using 50 mM H 3 PO 4 buffer, whose pH was adjusted to 2.0 with Tris, or only hydrochloric acid solution with the same pH, did not allow good separations for the tested components. The effect of the crown ether concentration on the separation of the 11 positional isomers was studied in the concentration range of 10–50 mM. The best separations were achieved using the 18C6 and the 18C6H 4 crown ethers: 9 isomers out of 11 could be separated within one run. The m - and p -aminophenol isomers could not be separated under the investigated experimental conditions. The newly synthesized tetraoxa-diaza crown ether derivatives were only found suitable for the separation of aminobenzoic acid positional isomers. The macrocyclic ring of the tetraoxa-diaza crown ethers was not able to form a stable inclusion complex with the tested positional isomers. Consequently, the aminophenol and aminocresol isomers were not separated, the isomers migrated with the same or very similar velocities.