IMPROVEMENT IN CHEMICAL ANALYSES

摘要

A system for separating compounds of relatively low molecular weight substantially not greater than about one kilodalton from compounds having relatively high molecular weight substantially an order of magnitude greater or more than the low molecular weight compounds in a liquid mixture. The system includes a chromatographic column (20) packed with uniformly distributed rigid, porous particles (22) having chromatographically active, hydrophobic surfaces, average diameters of not less than about 30 mu m, and average pore diameters sufficiently small to substantially exclude introduction of the compounds of relatively high molecular weight into the pores. The mixture is pumped through the interstitial volume between the particles (22) at a reduced velocity greater than about 5,000, until a band of the high molecular weight compounds exits the column (20). The low molecular weight compounds are then eluted and are recovered separately from the relatively high molecular weight compounds. Spectrographic identification of the recovered low molecular weight compounds can then be made, preferably by ultraviolet absorption or by mass spectrograph.