Comparison of the acidity of residual silanol groups in several liquid chromatography columns

The silanol acidity of Waters Resolve C18, Waters Resolve silica, Waters Symmetry C18, Waters Symmetry silica, Waters XTerra MS C18 and underivatized XTerra columns has been measured from the retention of LiNO3 with a methanol/water (60:40) mobile phase buffered to different pH values. The Li+ cation is retained by cationic exchange with the background cation of the mobile phase (Na+) through the ionized silanols. The number of active silanols increases in the order: XTerra MS C18≪Symmetry C18<underivatized XTerra≪Resolve C18<Resolve silica≈Symmetry silica. XTerra MS C18 does not present any residual silanol acidity up to sspH 10.0 (pH in 60% methanol) as measured by LiNO3. The underivatized XTerra packing and Symmetry C18 present active silanols only at sspH values higher than 7.0. For the other three columns, two different types of silanols with different acidity (sspKa values about 3.5–4.6 and 6.2–6.8, respectively) have been observed. Symmetry C18 shows evidence of the presence of active basic sites that retain NO3− by anionic exchange.