chromatography

Technique for separating or analysing a mixture of gases, liquids, or dissolved substances. This is brought about by means of two immiscible substances, one of which (the mobile phase) transports the sample mixture through the other (the stationary phase). The mobile phase may be a gas or a liquid; the stationary phase may be a liquid or a solid, and may be in a column, on paper, or in a thin layer on a glass or plastic support. The components of the mixture are adsorbed or impeded by the stationary phase to different extents and therefore become separated. The technique is used for both qualitative and quantitive analyses in biology and chemistry.

In paper chromatography, the mixture separates because the components have differing solubilities in the solvent flowing through the paper and in the chemically bound water of the paper.

In thin-layer chromatography, a wafer-thin layer of adsorbent medium on a glass plate replaces the filter paper. The mixture separates because of the differing solubilities of the components in the solvent flowing up the solid layer, and their differing tendencies to stick to the solid (adsorption). The same principles apply in column chromatography.

In gas–liquid chromatography, a gaseous mixture is passed into a long, coiled tube (enclosed in an oven) filled with an inert powder coated in a liquid. A carrier gas flows through the tube. As the mixture proceeds along the tube it separates as the components dissolve in the liquid to differing extents or stay as a gas. A detector locates the different components as they emerge from the tube. The technique is very powerful, allowing tiny quantities of substances (fractions of parts per million) to be separated and analysed.

Preparative chromatography is carried out on a large scale for the purification and collection of one or more of a mixture's constituents; for example, in the recovery of protein from abattoir wastes.

Analytical chromatography is carried out on far smaller quantities, often as little as one microgram (one-millionth of a gram), in order to identify and quantify the component parts of a mixture. It is used to determine the identities and amounts of amino acids in a protein, and the alcohol content of blood and urine samples. The technique was first used in the separation of coloured mixtures into their component pigments.