Model or practical experiments in chromatographic techniques

Modern chromatography boasts an impressive range of techniques and instrumentation which to the new practitioner can appear somewhat bewildering. In the past decade alone, a number of techniques have achieved maturity for example, SFC, capillary GC, GC-MS and LC-MS while others such as instrumental TLC and CE offer quite remarkable promise and capability. Over the same period, the established techniques of GC and HPLC have been revolutionised with regards to capability and complexity. 

These developments have been fuelled in part by the apparently unrelenting increase in microcomputing power, bringing with it improved control and data acquisition and processing capabilities and partly by the improved technologies for the preparation of chromatographic media and packings in GC and LC, for example, chiral stationary phases, bonded phase capillary GC and narrow bore HPLC. 

It has been the objective of the text to provide theory at a level adequate for an understanding of the underlying principles of chromatographic techniques. However, chromatography is very much an applied and practical subject and a hands on approach provides much insight into the fundamentals of chromatographic methodology. 

A range of more standard basic experiments is also included. In the case of column chromatography and TLC, they reflect the continued importance 

No particular originality is claimed, although it is not always possible to quote original sources, because several published methods may have been refined, and then further adapted, by the present authors or their colleagues. All the experimental figures and chromatograms reported have been determined by the authors (or their students) for the conditions described. Readers are referred to the Glossary, Appendix 1, for an explanation of the terms used and the chapter on the specific technique for more details on the principles. 

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