Theory of large zone SEC

An extensive discussion of the theoretical basis of large zone size exclusion chromatography has been published in a series of papers and review articles by Ackers and his co-workers (ref. 1-3). The goal here is not to present an exhaustive review of the theory behind this approach and the reader is referred to the references cited above. However, a brief overview of the basic principles will be given. The following discussion is a greatly simplified version of the theoretical discussion of Valdes and Ackers (ref. 2). 

As in any discussion of size exclusion chromatography on porous gels, three volumes must be considered. 

Void volume, V. This is the space that is outside of the gel particles. 

Is determined experimentally as illustrated in figure la. Equation (3) is valid for individual components in a mixture if they are not interacting with one another. 

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