Classification | chromatography |
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Other techniques | |
Related |
Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography Ion exchange chromatography |
Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography
Aqueous normal-phase chromatography (ANP) is a chromatographic technique which involves the mobile phase region between reversed-phase chromatography (RP) and organic normal-phase chromatography (ONP).
In normal-phase chromatography, the stationary phase is polar and the mobile phase is nonpolar. In reversed phase we have just the opposite; the stationary phase is nonpolar and the mobile phase is polar. Typical stationary phases for normal-phase chromatography are silica or organic moieties with cyano and amino functional groups. For reversed phase, alkyl hydrocarbons are the preferred stationary phase; octadecyl (C18) is the most common stationary phase, but octyl (C8) and butyl (C4) are also used in some applications. The designations for the reversed phase materials refer to the length of the hydrocarbon chain.
In normal-phase chromatography, the least polar compounds elute first and the most polar compounds elute last. The mobile phase consists of a nonpolar solvent such as hexane or heptane mixed with a slightly more polar solvent such as isopropanol, ethyl acetate or chloroform. Retention decreases as the amount of polar solvent in the mobile phase increases. In reversed phase chromatography, the most polar compounds elute first with the most nonpolar compounds eluting last. The mobile phase is generally a binary mixture of water and a miscible polar organic solvent like methanol, acetonitrile or THF. Retention increases as the amount of the polar solvent (water) in the mobile phase increases. Normal phase chromatography, an adsorptive mechanism, is used for the analysis of solutes readily soluble in organic solvents, based on their polar differences such as amines, acids, metal complexes, etc.. Reversed-phase chromatography, a partition mechanism, is typically used for separations by non-polar differences.