Chromatography Techniques and Spectrometry

Liquid Chromatography

Liquid chromatography is an effective Analytical technique which is mainly used to separate a mixture of sample into its individual parts. There are several different types of chromatography that are classified based on the physical states, as this separations mainly occurs based on the interactions of the sample with the stationary and mobile phases because there are many stationary/mobile phase combinations that can be employed when separating a mixture of those phases. Liquid-solid Column Chromatography is the most popular Chromatography technique features a liquid mobile phase which slowly filters down through the solid stationary phase, bringing the separated components with it.

Based on each component's affinity for the mobile phase, components within a mixture are separated in a column. In a column, if the components are of different polarities and a mobile phase of a distinct polarity is passed through it, one component will migrate through the column faster than the other because same compound molecules will generally move in groups. Within the column, the compounds are separated into distinct bands. The corresponding bands can be seen if the components being separated are colored. Otherwise, the presence of the different bands can be detected by using some other instrumental analysis techniques such as UV-VIS spectroscopy as in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).