Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as the gas chromatographic stationary phase: Role of their functionalization in the analysis of aliphatic alcohols and esters

Presented hereafter is the novel application of differently functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) as stationary phases for the GC separation of C1–C5 alcohols and esters. Low-cost packed columns, easily prepared in laboratory, were used with satisfactory results. Depending on the functional groups introduced on the pristine MWCNTs, remarkably different behaviours have been observed, thus indicating that derivatization is a key factor to achieve optimal resolution. The best performance was shown by the 2,2′-(ethylenedioxy)diethylamine derivatized MWCNTs, allowing the separation of alcohol isomers, for this reason chosen for the investigation of fermentation by-products in distilled spirits. The degree of derivatization has been assessed for each packing material by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A computational study has been performed to correlate the physico–chemical properties of alcohol probes with the retention behaviour.