Abstract: Cortex magnoliae officianalis is a Chinese herbal medicine, which has anti-bacterial function. Magnolol is the main pharmacological component. A new magnolol-bonded silica gel stationary phase(MSP) for reversed-phase liquid chromatography was prepared using 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane(KH-590) as the coupling reagent. The chemical structure of MSP was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), elemental analysis(ES) and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA). With the purpose of evaluating the chromatographic performance and elucidating the related retention mechanism on the new packing material, some alkylbenzene homologues, five pyridines, six aniline compounds and eight aromatic carboxylic acids were used as neutral, basic and acidic probes, respectively. The results showed that MSP could be considered as a reversed-phase liquid chromatographic stationary phase, which was similar to ODS column. The principle of the chromatographic separation for most analytes on MSP column involved hydrophobic interaction. Moreover, MSP is a packing material that has versatile chromatographic functions. The chromatographic results indicated that hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bonding interaction, π-π interaction and dipole-dipole interaction between the bonded phase and analytes play significant roles in the retention of some basic compounds and aromatic carboxylic acids, and better selectivity and separation have been presented on MSP column. Various action sites of mognolol could contribute to the fast separations of many polar aromatic compounds.

Key words: High performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), Bonded silica gel stationary phase, Magnolol, Chromatographic property, Basic compound