Views: 30
Chromatography Techniques
Chromatography is a separation technique used to separate the different components in a liquid mixture. The term chromatography literally means color writing, and denotes a method by which the sample A being dissolved in a particular solvent called mobile phase. The mobile phase may be a gas or liquid. The mobile phase is then passed through another phase called stationary phase.
e The mobile phase of chromatography refers to the fluid that carries the mixture of substances in the sample through the adsorptive material. The stationary or adsorbent phase refers to the solid material that takes up the particles of the substance passing through it. Kaolin, alumina, silica, and activated charcoal have been used as adsorbing substances or stationary phases.
The various components of the substance move through the adsorbent at different rates of speed, according to their degree of attraction to it, and producing bands of color at different levels of the adsorption column. The various components of the mixture travel at different speeds, causing them to separate.
There are different types of chromatographic techniques such as column chromatography, TLC, paper chromatography, and gas chromatography
Chromatography was introduced by a Russian Scientist Michael Tswett. The technique is a valuable tool for the research biochemist and is readily adaptable to investigations conducted in the clinical laboratory. For example, chromatography is used to detect and identify in body fluids certain sugars and amino acids associated with inborn errors of metabolism.
Chromatography Terms
The analyte is the substance that is to be separated during chromatography.
Analytical chromatography is used to determine the existence and possibly also the concentration of analyte(s) in a sample.
A bonded phase is a stationary phase that is covalently bonded to the support particles or to the inside wall of the column tubing.
A chromatogram is the visual output of the chromatograph. In the case of an optimal separation, different peaks or patterns on the chromatogram correspond to different components of the separated mixture.
A chromatograph is equipment that enables a sophisticated separation e.g. gas chromatographic or liquid chromatographic separation.
Chromatography is a physical method of separation in which the components to be separated are distributed between two phases, one of which is stationary (stationary phase) while the other (the mobile phase) moves in a definite direction.
The eluent is the mobile phase leaving the column.
An immobilized phase is a stationary phase which is immobilized on the support particles, or on the inner wall of the column tubing.
The mobile phase is the phase which moves in a definite direction. It may be a liquid (LC and CEC), a gas (GC), or a supercritical fluid (supercritical-fluid chromatography, SFC). A better definition: The mobile phase consists of the sample being separated/analyzed and the solvent that moves the sample through the column. In one case of HPLC the solvent consists of a carbonate/bicarbonate solution and the sample is the anions being separated. The mobile phase moves through the chromatography column (the stationary phase) where the sample interacts with the stationary phase and is separated.
Preparative chromatography is used to purify sufficient quantities of a substance for further use, rather than analysis.
- The retention time is the characteristic time it takes for a particular analyte to pass through the system (from the column inlet to the detector) under set conditions.
- The sample is the matter analysed in chromatography. It may consist of a single component or it may be a mixture of components. When the sample is treated in the course of an analysis, the phase or the phases containing the analytes of interest is/are referred to as the sample whereas everything out of interest separated from the sample before or in the course of the analysis is referred to as waste.
- The solute refers to the sample components in partition chromatography.
- The solvent refers to any substance capable of solubilizing other substance, and especially the liquid mobile phase in LC.
- The stationary phase is the substance which is fixed in place for the chromatography procedure. Examples include the silica layer in Thin layer chromatography