ABSTRACT
Any chromatogram can be presented as a curve relating solute concentration in the mobile phase to volume flow and this is the variable used in the plate theory. The rate theory examines the kinetics of exchange that takes place in a chromatographic system and identifies the factors that control band dispersion. J. J. Van Deemter et al. considered that four spreading processes were responsible for peak dispersion, namely, multi-path dispersion, longitudinal diffusion, resistance to mass transfer in the mobile phase and resistance to mass transfer in the stationary phase. Dispersion caused by the resistance to mass transfer in the stationary phase is exactly analogous to that in the mobile phase. The basic equation describing the dispersion that takes place in an open tubular column was developed by M. J. E. Golay for gas chromatography but is equally, and directly, applicable to liquid chromatography and, in particular, to dispersion in liquid chromatography column connecting tubes.
