Chapter 1 Fundamentals of countercurrent chromatography

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the fundamentals of countercurrent chromatography (CCC). In CCC, the mobile phase is a liquid; hence, it is a liquid chromatography technique. The unique feature of CCC is that, unlike all other techniques, the stationary phase is also a liquid without any solid support. Most separations are done in gas chromatography (GC) with a liquid stationary phase, but the GC liquid stationary phase is maintained by a solid support that can be either particles (filled columns) or long tubing (capillary and macrobore GC columns). In CCC, there is no solid support; centrifugal fields are used to keep the liquid stationary phase steady, while the liquid mobile phase is pushed through it. A typical CCC set-up comprises a mobile phase reservoir, a pump, an injection valve, a column, a detector, and a recorder or data processor. In CCC, all “columns” contain rotating parts needed to create and maintain a centrifugal field that works with a support-free liquid stationary phase.