Poly(2-N-carbazolylethyl acrylate) with terminal trimethoxysilyl groups was prepared as an organic phase and immobilized onto silica. The retention behavior of the column packed with this carbazole-based polymer-immobilized silica (Sil-CEA) was investigated by using various estrogenic steroids and corticoids in both reversed-phase and normal-phase liquid chromatography. As a result, complete separation was confirmed for eight kinds of steroids with Sil-CEA. The most specific separation with Sil-CEA can be emphasized by the high separation factor (e.g., alpha = 1.39 in methanol-water (7:3, v/v) at 35 degrees C) for 17alpha and 17beta-estradiols, one of the most difficult pairs of isomers in chromatographic separation, whereas for two kinds of commercially available polymeric ODS columns as references alpha = 1.01, only, under the same conditions. Because the excellent separation and retention order with Sil-CEA was maintained even in a normal-phase mobile phase such as a hexane-2-propanol, it is estimated that the CEA phase has multiple interaction mechanisms through stronger interactions such as dipole-dipole, carbonyl-pi, and hydrogen bonding interactions than the hydrophobic effect expected with ODS.

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Poly(4-vinylpyridine)-modified silica with high grafting density have been prepared by a grafting-from (g-from) approach through radical chain-transfer reactions. The widely used silane coupling agent 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane was used to prepare thiol-terminated silica. Chain-transfer reaction and polymerization of 4-vinylpyridine was carried out using alpha,alpha'-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. Thiol-terminated silica and polymer-modified silica were both characterized qualitatively and quantitatively. The quantification of the organic phase has been done by thermogravimetric analysis and elemental analysis. Thus, the modified silica was used as a packing material and the retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied in normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Results were compared with those of poly(4-vinylpyridine)-modified silica prepared by a grafting-to (g-to) approach. Commercially available aminopropyl-bonded silica and bare silica columns were also used as reference columns. The column of poly(4-vinylpyridine)-grafted silica prepared by the g-from method, having higher grafting density, provided the better retentivity and selectivity for PAHs compared to the other reference columns.