Novel inverse liquid chromatography detector configuration for studying solid–liquid adsorption

Abstract

Inverse liquid chromatography (ILC) is a physicochemical chromatographic technique for studying solid–liquid interactions and surface properties of unknown solid materials. However, such studies are dependant on the ability to self pack the sample powder into a LC column in a reliable and robust manner. In practise, this is often difficult and anomalous chromatograms can be encountered quite frequently. Results obtained with a novel LC system configuration utilising both pre and post-column UV–vis detectors for ILC studies are reported here which greatly assist in our attempts to interpret such chromatograms. The operational issues for using a two detector system are discussed including the use of both detectors in the linear concentration regime; with the choice of an optimal detector wavelength being the most critical factor. The two detector system was demonstrated to be capable of verifying reversible adsorption processes, as well as assisting in the interpretation of complex or problematic chromatograms. This paper demonstrates that the two detector ILC system can offer a number of practical benefits in the study of complex chromatographic phenomena.