Countercurrent chromatographic separation: a hydrodynamic approach developed for extraction columns.

In countercurrent chromatography (CCC) both stationary and mobile liquids undergo intense mixing in the variable force field of a coil planet centrifuge and the separation process, like the separation in conventional solvent extraction column, is influenced by longitudinal mixing in the phases and mass transfer between them. This paper describes how the residence time distribution (or the elution profile) of a solute in CCC devices and the interpretation of experimental peaks, can be described by a recently developed cell model of longitudinal mixing. The model considers a CCC column as a cascade of perfectly mixed equal-size cells, the number of which is determined by the rates of longitudinal mixing in the stationary and mobile phases. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate the validation of the model and the possibility of predicting the partitioning behaviour of the solutes. The methods for estimating model parameters are discussed. Longitudinal mixing rates in stationary and mobile phases have been experimentally determined and experimental elution profiles are compared with simulated peaks. It is shown that using the cell model the peak shape for a solute with a given distribution constant can be predicted from experimental data on other solutes.

Application of countercurrent chromatography to the purification of chemical reagents.

Countercurrent chromatography has been employed for the purification of solid chemical reagents, such as (NH(4))(2)SO(4), NH(4)HSO(4), NH(4)F and NH(4)Cl from a number of most common metal impurities (Fe, Al, Zn, Cu, Co, Cd, Ni, Cr, Ca, Mg, K) in order to gain high-purity reagents. After evaporation these can be used for fusion decomposition purposes in trace analysis of various refractory materials (e.g. high tech ceramics). N,N-hexamethylenedithiocarbamic acid, 8-hydroxyquinoline, dibenzo-18-crown-6 and dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 were used as extracting reagents.

Determination of ortho- and pyrophosphates in waters by extraction chromatography and flow-injection analysis.

Extraction-chromatographic separation of ortho- and pyrophosphate anions on an inert support modified with an organotin extractant was studied and used for their subsequent determination in a flow-injection system. The proposed FIA manifold includes an extraction-chromatographic mini-column, on which the phosphate anions are separated and preconcentrated, and a post-column spectrophotometric detector. For the determination of orthophosphate, the absorbance of the reduced 12-molybdophosphoric acid is monitored at 660 nm. The sum of ortho- and pyrophosphate can be determined after preliminary hydrolysis of pyrophosphate to orthophosphate in neutral solution at 50 degrees by use of inorganic pyrophosphatase. For a sample volume of 6 ml, the calibration graph is linear within a range of 5.0-100.0 ng/ml P. The limit of detection is 0.3 ng/ml P. The recovery of the ions to be determined is not less than 96%, the relative error is not worse than 4%. The proposed method was used for the analysis of river water samples.

Group separation of trace rare-earth elements by countercurrent chromatography for their determination in high-purity calcium chloride.

A method has been developed for the separation of the entire group of rare-earth elements from high-purity calcium chloride by countercurrent chromatography, and subsequent determination of the elements by ICP-MS. A solution of diphenyl[dibutylcarbamoylmethyl]phosphine oxide in chloroform (0.5 mol L(-1)) has been chosen as reagent for the extraction and preconcentration of trace rare-earth elements from aqueous 5% CaCl2 solution, 3 mol L(-1) in HNO3 and 0.1 mol L(-1) in HClO4. The analytes are back-extracted into a small volume of water and the aqueous eluate is subjected to ICP-MS measurements. The performance characteristics of the procedure developed have been checked by use of the standard addition technique and a real CaCl2 sample (Merck product) has been analyzed. The results obtained demonstrate the applicability of countercurrent chromatography to the determination of ultratrace elements.