ABSTRACT
Liquid Chromatography (LC) columns that are used in general analysis are almost exclusively packed. Some work has been carried out in an attempt to demonstrate the viability of open tubular columns in LC which have been virtually futile. The material that has made modem LC possible is silica gel. It is true that there are micro-reticular polymers that can be very effective stationary phase alternatives, but in the early days of LC, there was only silica gel to exploit. The interactions of a solute with the silica gel or bonded phase surface in LC are different from those between the solute and the stationary phase in gas chromatography. In LC there is a preponderance of solvent present that also interacts with the stationary phase surface. Most cross-linked polystyrene resins used in LC are the so called macro-reticular type which can be produced with almost any desired pore size, ranging from 20Å to 5.000Å.
