ABSTRACT

Various liquid chromatographic techniques offer a unique possibility for the separation and quantitative determination of a large variety of organic, metalloorganic, and inorganic compounds with highly similar molecular structures. These methods are indispensable in medical practice and research, pharmaceutical chemistry, food science and technology, environmental pollution control, legislation procedures, etc. The rapid development of the theory of the retention processes in chromatography have made it obvious that the efficient separation of various compounds (selection of the best separation method, support and mobile phase, and any other parameter influencing the efficacy) requires a profound knowledge of the impact of molecular characteristics of solutes, stationary and mobile phases, and their interplay at the molecular level on retention. The expert application of such knowledge will highly facilitate the rational design of optimal separation methods. As the chemistry and physicochemistry of the surface of the support determines the retention characteristics of stationary phases, physical methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), etc., have been frequently used to study the stationary phases in liquid chromatography.