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What is "silanol activity" when a column is described as having low or high silanol activity? - WKB229047

Article number: 229047

ENVIRONMENT

  • Chromatography troubleshooting
  • Silanol activity

ANSWER

"Silanol activity" describes the ability of free unbonded silanols on the surface of chromatographic particles to influence the peak shape of basic analytes.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Free silanols are negatively charged at pH above 3 and can interact with positively charged compounds. This interaction with a basic compound can create tailing peak shapes.

For additional information, see How can I decrease tailing of a basic compound when running a reverse phase method with a C18 column? and

Are XBridge BEH C18 and ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 chemistries base-deactivated?

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