SOLUTE RETENTION IN ELECTROCHROMATOGRAPHY BY ELECTRICALLY INDUCED SORPTION

Column chromatography and electrophoresis are combined in electrochromatography, where an electric potential is applied to a chromatography column in the axial direction. These studies utilized a dextran gel stationary phase and an eluent of low ionic strength, which were chosen to minimize electric current and therefore column heating and undesirable dispersion effects. The gel, with a small ion exchange capacity of several microequivalents per mL, turned out to be more conductive than the eluent and was able to concentrate macromolecules in the presence of combined electric and flow fields. The model presented describes solute retention due to electrically induced concentration polarization of solute on the resin surfaces, as well as electrophoresis in the mobile and stationary phases. The polarization effect explains differences between retention of high-molecular-weight solutes with exclusion coefficients of less than 1 and that of a charged low-molecular-weight solute, which is hypothesized to pass through the gel matrix in the presence of an electric field and does not experience concentration polarization. It also shows the application of this effect for protein separation in a liquid chromatography system with a superimposed electric potential.