Abstract: Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is an alternative of reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) for the separation of polar compounds. The main characteristic of HILIC is the use of polar stationary phases and aqueous/organic (usually acetonitrile) mobile phases. In recent years, HILIC has attracted more and more attentions for the demanding of the separation of polar compounds in many research fields and the advantages of HILIC, such as the good retention of polar compounds, orthogonality to RPLC and compatibility with mass spectrometry (MS), etc. Stationary phases are the basis of the development and application of HILIC. The structure of the bonded phases, retention properties and applications of the HILIC stationary phases are reviewed in the present article. The conventional stationary phases for normal phase liquid chromatography used in HILIC and the stationary phases specially developed for HILIC are introduced. The advantages, drawbacks and the general situation of applications of the different stationary phases are commented. The applications in the separation of traditional Chinese medicines are also reviewed. The further development of HILIC stationary phases is looked ahead.

Key words: chromatographic retention properties, separation of traditional Chinese medicines , stationary phases, very polar compounds, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)