Liquid Chromatography
Synonyms
High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)
Definition
Liquid chromatography is a method for separating molecules dissolved in a liquid mobile phase. A pressure gradient drives the mobile phase through the stationary solid phase. Thermodynamic partitioning of the analytes between the liquid phase and stationary phase causes differential transport and spatial separation of different molecular species.
Overview
Molecular separations are used to reduce the complexity of a mixture of compounds. While complete separation of two or more compounds is typically desired, complete separation is theoretically impossible. In practice, the separation of a purified sample can appear to be complete, if the contamination is below the limits of detection. While the concepts discussed pertain to chromatography in general, the terminology and details will specifically address bonded phase column chromatography.
Theory
References
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