High-performance liquid chromatography of the coordination isomers of triphenylphosphine-substituted homo- and hetero-bimetallic carbonyl complexes of manganese and rhenium

Abstract

The isocratic normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography of a series of triphenylphosphine (PPh3)-substituted homo- and hetero-dinuclear metal carbonyl complexes [MM'(CO)(10-n)(PPh3)(n), where M, M'= Mn, Re; n = 1, 2] is reported. A column packed with silica bonded with phenyl groups was used after preliminary experiments showed that columns packed with conventional silica, and with silica bonded with amion-cyano groups were unsatisfactory for separation. The mobile phases used were hexane-toluene (98:2) and hexane-dichloromethane (90:10). The results suggest that besides the symmetry-imposed polarity of the complexes, the nature of the metal and substituent ligand also determine their retention characteristics.