Effect of Particle-Particle Attractive and Repulsive Interactions on the Retention in Field-Flow Fractionation

Abstract

The experimental data obtained by using various field-flow fractionation techniques and by other experimental methods are compared with the published results. All available and relevant data are analyzed with regard to the particle-particle interactions occurring in polarization and focusing mechanisms governing the field-flow fractionation of the macromolecular and colloidal species. It is concluded that these interactions strongly depend on the experimental conditions. The appearance of the organized structures, such as colloidal crystals, formed under the usual field-flow fractionation conditions is revealed. All these interactions must be taken into account for a rigorous interpretation of the experiments, especially with regard to the effect of the experimental conditions on the retention.