home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- A technique for separating a mixture, usually
- in solution, into its constituent components.
- This is done by passing the mixture (the
- `mobile phase' through another substance (the
- `stationary phase'), usually a liquid or
- solid. The different components of the
- mixture are absorbed or impeded to different
- extents, and hence separate. Analytical
- chromatography uses very small quantities,
- often millionths of a gram or less, to
- identify and quantify components of a
- mixture. Examples are the determination of
- the identities and amounts of amino acids in
- a protein, and the determination of the
- alcohol content of blood and urine samples.
- Preparative chromatography is used on a large
- scale for the purification and collection of
- one or more of the constituents, for example
- the recovery of protein from abbatoir and
- other effluent wastes.
-