ABSTRACT
The requirement for two or more retention parameters to describe the final position or emergence point of the component is consistent with the concept of multiple dimensions used throughout science and mathematics. In coupled column multidimensional separation, the effluent from one column is divided into sequential portions and shunted individually to one or more subsequent columns where they are subjected to new separative conditions. Multidimensional separation procedures become especially important for complex samples consisting of numerous components. The planar 2D system is highly important in its own right, but it also serves as a simple reference system to which all other multidimensional systems can be compared. The situation is entirely analogous to the overlap of peaks in one dimension as they expand from infinitely thin lines to realistically broadened peaks. The multiplicative form assumed by peak capacity in higher dimensional systems provides a mechanism for amplifying peak capacities far beyond that possible in one-dimensional systems.
