Chromatography

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at chromatography, an analytical technique based on the principle of selective adsorption that is used for the chemical separation of mixtures and substances. It examines how it is an important field of chemistry, which deals with the separation of pure substances from complex mixtures, and is widely used in the analysis of foods, drugs, blood, petroleum products, and radioactive-fission products. It also examines how variants of "column" chromatography have been developed since its discovery in 1906, including partition, liquid, paper, thin-layer, and gas-liquid chromatography.

From the Paper:

"Chromatography was discovered in 1906 by the Russian botanist Mikhail Tswett who first coined the term (derived from the Latin for "color writing"). The technique used by Tswett for separating the pigments (chlorophyll) of plants consisted of pouring petroleum-ether extract of green leaves over a column of powdered calcium carbonate in a vertical glass tube. As the solution seeped through the column the individual components of the mixture moved downward at different rates of speed, and the column became marked with horizontal bands of colors. Tswett did not enjoy a happy relationship with fellow scientists of his time, as they derided his results, and his technique, with Tswett responding in kind. As a result, it wasn't until the 1930s that his methods were accepted as a breakthrough in chromatography."

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