Prediction of liquid chromatography retention factors for α-branched phenylsulfonyl acetates using quantum chemical descriptors

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Liu, Xin-hui | Wu, Chun-de | Han, Shuo-kui | Wang, Lian-sheng

Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Department of Environmental Science, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; E-mail: lxh065 @ yahoo.com

Abstract: The logarithms of retention factors normalized to a hypothetical pure water eluent( log k_w ) were determined on a reversed-phase highperformance liquid chromatography(RP-HPLC) column (Li Chrosorb RP-18 column) for 20 new α-branched phenylsulfonyl acetates. The atomic charge method was applied to develop quantitative structure-retention relationships (QSRRs). Among the available geometric and electronic descriptors, surface area (S), ovality (O), and the charge of carboxyl group(Q_oc ) are significant. In the model, the contribution of surface area (S) is the greatest. The molecular mechanism of retention was demonstrated through the model. With the correlation coefficient ( r^2_adj, adjusted for degrees of freedom) of 0. 964, the standard error of 0. 164 and the F-value of 170.39, the model has good predictive capacity.

Keywords: phenylsulfonyl acetates, quantum chemical descriptor, quantitative structure-retention relationships (QSRRs), retention factor

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 151-155, 2002