Factors Affecting Resolution

Three separate factors affect resolution (1) a column selectivity factor that varies with a, (2) a capacity factor that varies with k (taken usually as fej). and (3) an efficiency factor that depends on the theoretical plate number. 

EPIDEMIOLOGY The Study in populations of health factors affecting the occuirence and resolution of disease and other health-related conditions. 

In the elucidation of retention mechanisms, an advantage of using enantiomers as templates is that nonspecific binding, which affects both enantiomers equally, cancels out. Therefore the separation factor (a) uniquely reflects the contribution to binding from the enantioselectively imprinted sites. As an additional comparison the retention on the imprinted phase is compared with the retention on a nonimprinted reference phase. The efficiency of the separations is routinely characterized by estimating a number of theoretical plates (N), a resolution factor (R ) and a peak asymmetry factor (A ) [19]. These quantities are affected by the quality of the packing and mass transfer limitations, as well as of the amount and distribution of the binding sites. 

Wise, S. A. and Sander, L. C. 1985. Factors affecting the reversed-phase liquid chromatographic separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon isomers. J. High Resolut. Chromatogr. Commun. 8 248-255. 

The effect of temperature on distribution ratios has already been mentioned on page 91. Although the separation proceeds more quickly at elevated temperatures, resolution suffers because of increased rates of diffusion. However, in adsorption TLC only small increases in Rt values are observed even with a 20°C rise. Strict temperature control is not necessary if samples and standards are run at the same time, although large fluctuations should be avoided. The quality of the thin-layer materials, and in particular the presence of impurities in them, determine the extent to which partition, adsorption, ion-exchange and exclusion participate in the sorption process. These factors affect Rr values in an unpredictable manner. Thin layers should be of uniform thickness, between 0.2 and 0.3 mm with thinner layers, local variations in thickness can result in appreciable variations in Rf values. 

Ingendoh, A. Karas, M. Hillenkamp, F. Giessmann, U. Factors Affecting the Resolution in Matrix-Assisted Laser De-sorption-Ionization-MS. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Proc. 1994, 757, 345-354. 

Tesafova, E. and Bosdkova, Z., The factors affecting the enantiomeric resolution and racemization of oxazepam, lorazepam and promethazine on macrocyclic antibiotics-bonded chiral stationary phases, Chemia Analityczna, 48, 439, 2003. 

B. Factors Affecting Spectra Low- and Medium-Resolution Studies A. Fragmentations... 

A time-of-flight spectrometer can be used as a mass analyzer, an ion kinetic energy analyzer, and an ion reaction time analyzer. We will consider here only what factors affect the resolution of the system in mass analysis.74 The same consideration can easily be extended to find the resolution in other analyses. There are at least two kinds of mass resolution. One refers to the ability of the system to separate two ion species of nearly equal masses in the same mass spectrum. This is related to the sharpness of the mass lines, or the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the mass lines. The other refers to the ability of the system to distinguish two ion species of nearly identical masses, but not necessarily in the same mass spectrum. This latter mass resolution is related to the sharpness of reference points in the mass lines such as the onset flight times of the ion species, and the overall long-term stability of the system. This latter resolution determined also how accurately the instrument can measure the mass of ion species. Although this latter resolution is more closely related to ion kinetic energy analysis and is as important as the former one, we will consider here only the former kind, or the conventional kind, of mass resolution. 

Factors affecting the depth resolution and surface sensitivity in RBS are discussed further in the following section. 

Separation speed and ease of use seem to be the primary factors driving changes in HPLC instrumentation. Resolution efficiency and stationary phase stability, especially at high pH, are the primary factors affecting current changes in column technology. 

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