HPLC has been widely used for separations and analyses of substances having a π-electron system, such as environmental pollutants, mutagenic substances and pharmaceuticals. 1-6 Research has been focused on the development of stationary phases capable of making good use of the π-π interaction between π electrons of a sample and a ligand, immobilized on a support, having π electrons. 7-11 We have developed a silicabased Cu-PCSD column wherein a copper phthalocyanine sulfonic acid derivative (Cu-PCS, see Fig. 1) is bound on silica gels and evaluated to be useful for separations of PAHs. 12-14 A further investigation was conducted to elucidate the HPLC retention behavior of poly-aromatic-hydrocarbons (PAHs) on Cu-and Ni-PCSD columns in a non-polar eluent, which revealed that the separation of PAHs is dominated by interactions involving a π electron. 12 In the present study, in order to elucidate the separation mechanism of PAHs on the Cu-and Ni-PCSD columns, we examined the effects of the central-metal of Cu-and Ni-PCSD on the retention behavior of certain compounds having π electrons in a polar eluent. Experimental Reagents Ni 2+-phthalocyanine and Cu 2+-phthalocyanine were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Inc. (St. Louis, USA). As a support, Develosil NH2-5 ® (hereinafter, referred to as "Dev", Nomura Kagaku, Japan), which is a spherical aminopropyl silica gels (particle size, 5 μm; specific surface area, 350 m 2 /g; average pore size, 12 nm), was used. As eluents, methanol, n-hexane and chloroform of HPLC grade (Nacalai Tesque, Japan) were mainly used, and a slurry solvent for packing M-PCSD, slurry solvent A Conc. (Chemco Scientific, Japan) was employed. M-PCSD columns Ni-and Cu-PCSDs were prepared from M-PC (M = Ni 2+ and Cu 2+ via M-PCSCl (see Fig. 1), as described in a previous paper. 12 The M-PCSD column was then prepared by packing the obtained M-PCSD into a stainless-steel column (4.6 mm i.d. × 150 mm) for HPLC by a conventional slurry packing method. Throughout the process, the filtrate and the like were clear and 1035