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2: Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Methods

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    379426
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    Drawing from an arsenal of analytical techniques—many of which were the subject of the preceding four chapters—analytical chemists design methods that detect increasingly smaller concentrations of analyte in increasingly more complex matrices. Despite the power of these analytical techniques, they often suffer from a lack of selectivity. For this reason, many analytical procedures include a step to separate the analyte from potential interferents. Although effective, each additional step in an analytical procedure increases the analysis time and the cost of the analysis, and introduces uncertainty. In this chapter we consider two analytical techniques that avoid these limitations by combining the separation and analysis: chromatography and electrophoresis.

    • 2.1: Overview of Analytical Separations
      In Chapter 7 we examined several methods for separating an analyte from potential interferents. For example, in a liquid–liquid extraction the analyte and interferent initially are present in a single liquid phase. We add a second, immiscible liquid phase and thoroughly mix them by shaking. During this process the analyte and interferents partition between the two phases to different extents, effecting their separation.
    • 2.2: General Theory of Column Chromatography
      Of the two methods for bringing the stationary phase and the mobile phases into contact, the most important is column chromatography. In this section we develop a general theory that we may apply to any form of column chromatography.
    • 2.3: Optimizing Chromatographic Separations
      Now that we have defined the solute retention factor, selectivity, and column efficiency we are able to consider how they affect the resolution of two closely eluting peaks.
    • 2.4: Gas Chromatography
      In gas chromatography (GC) we inject the sample, which may be a gas or a liquid, into an gaseous mobile phase (often called the carrier gas). The mobile phase carries the sample through a packed or a capillary column that separates the sample’s components based on their ability to partition between the mobile phase and the stationary phase.
    • 2.5: High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
      In high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) we inject the sample, which is in solution form, into a liquid mobile phase. The mobile phase carries the sample through a packed or capillary column that separates the sample’s components based on their ability to partition between the mobile phase and the stationary phase.
    • 2.6: Other Forms of Chromatography
      At the beginning of Chapter 12.5, we noted that there are several different types of solute/stationary phase interactions in liquid chromatography, but limited our discussion to liquid–liquid chromatography. In this section we turn our attention to liquid chromatography techniques in which partitioning occurs by liquid–solid adsorption, ion-exchange, and size exclusion.
    • 2.7: Electrophoresis
      Electrophoresis is a class of separation techniques in which we separate analytes by their ability to move through a conductive medium—usually an aqueous buffer—in response to an applied electric field. In the absence of other effects, cations migrate toward the electric field’s negatively charged cathode.
    • 2.8: Problems
      End-of-chapter problems to test your understanding of topics covered in this chapter.
    • 2.9: Additional Resources
      A compendium of resources to accompany topics in this chapter.
    • 2.10: Chapter Summary and Key Terms
      Summary of chapter's main topics and list of key terms included in this chapter.


    This page titled 2: Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Methods is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by David Harvey.

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