variety of stationary phases available for use in RPC, allowing great flexibility in the development of separation methods. Silica-based stationary phases Any inert polar substance that achieves sufficient packing can be used for reversed-phase chromatography. The most popular column is an octadecyl carbon chain (C18)-bonded silica (USP classification L1). This is followed by C8-bonded silica (L7), pure silica (L3), cyano-bonded silica (L10) and phenyl-bonded silica (L11). Note that C18, C8 and phenyl are dedicated reversed-phase resins, while cyano columns can be used in a reversed-phase mode depending on analyte and mobile phase conditions. Not all C18 columns have identical retention properties. Surface functionalization of silica can be performed in a monomeric or a polymeric reaction with different short-chain organosilanes used in a second step to cover remaining silanol groups (end-capping). While the overall retention mechanism remains the same, subtle differences in the surface chemistries of different stationary phases will lead to changes in selectivity. Modern columns have different polarity. PFP is pentafluorphenyl. CN is cyano. NH2 is amino. ODS is octadecyl or C18. ODCN is a mixed mode column consisting of C18 and nitrile. SCX is strong cationic exchange (used for separation of organic amines). SAX is strong anionic exchange (used for separation of carboxylic acid compounds). Mobile phases Mixtures of water or aqueous buffers and organic solvents are used to elute analytes from a reversed-phase column. The solvents must be miscible with water, and the most common organic solvents used are acetonitrile, methanol, and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Other solvents can be used such as ethanol or 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol). Elution can be performed isocratically (the water-solvent composition does not change during the separation process) or by using a solution gradient (the water-solvent composition changes during the separation process, usually by decreasing the polarity). The pH of the mobile phase can have an important role on the retention of an analyte and can change the selectivity of certain analytes. Charged analytes can be separated on a reversed-phase column by the use of ion-pairing (also called ion-interaction). This technique is known as reversed-phase ion-pairing chromatography. See also Aqueous normal-phase chromatography References External links Tables summarizing different types of reverse phases, and information on the functionalization process Chromatography