DISTRIBUTION ISOTHERMS IN REVERSED-PHASE SYSTEMS

Experimental results on single-component isotherms and binary composite isotherms for reversed-phase liquid chromatography, for both sample and mobile phase components, and the modelling and molecular interpretation of these data are reviewed. The treatment of adsorption in terms of surface excess is discussed, mainly in relation to the determination of the void volume. The relevance of such activities for predicting elution curves in preparative LC, for understanding ''system peaks'' and for obtaining insight into the sorption process is discussed. Reasonably abundant data exist on single-component isotherms, but composite isotherms have rarely been measured in such systems. The success of various models in describing experimental isotherm data is also reviewed.