Nitro-Alkanes separation

The silica gel surface is extremely polar and, as a result, must often be deactivated with a polar solvent such as ethyl acetate, propanol or even methanol. The bulk solvent is usually an n-alkane such as n-heptane and the moderators (the name given to the deactivating agents) are usually added at concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5% v/v. Silica gel is very effective for separating polarizable materials such as the aromatic hydrocarbons, nitro hydrocarbons (aliphatic and aromatic), aliphatic ethers, aromatic esters, etc. When separating polarizable substances as opposed to substances with permanent dipoles, mixtures of an aliphatic hydrocarbon with a chlorinated hydrocarbon such as chlorobutane or methylene dichloride are often used as the mobile... 

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