Dimethoxyphenylpropyl bonded silica phase for higher fullerenes separation by high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract Fullerenes were separated using three chemically bonded phases, dimethoxyphenylpropyl (DMP), monomeric octadecyl and polymeric octadecyl modified silicas (ODS), with n -hexane as the mobile phase. DMP and the monomeric ODS are the best choices for the separation of C 60 and C 70 compounds, while DMP is the only phase that has high temperature stability while maintaining the resolution. For the separation of higher fullerenes, DMP offers faster analysis at higher temperatures while maintaining its high resolution, whereas ODS phases cannot provide similar run times while offering the same resolution. In conclusion, DMP is the most suitable and promising stationary phase for fullerenes analysis because of the short run time and its superior separation efficiency.