Error using split

Does anyone know why I am getting an error when I run this? private string cutString(string str) { char[] cDividers = {' ','>','<'}; string[] segment; segment = str.Split(cDividers); return segment[0].ToString(); } Error: An unhandled exception of type 'System.ExecutionEngineException' occurred in Unknown Module. when I remove the '<' it will run fine.