A system for preparative separation of a wide range of small molecules by gel permeation chromatography in organic liquids

Abstract This paper mainly deals with the description of the apparatus used; only a few examples of separations are given. More applications of the technique will be fully described in subsequent papers. The procedures are applicable to high boiling compounds in the molecular weight range 100–1500. For preparative purposes effective separations can be obtained with 30–100 mg amounts of mixture, using a single glass column, or at most a combination of 2–3 columns of 120 cm length and about 15 mm internal diameter, packed with gels of the Bio-Beads or Sephadex LH-20 type in organic liquids. Low sensitivities of the 8–32·10 −5 R.I.U. full scale deflection of the detector, a differential refractometer, are normally used, the latter being thermostatically operated at 2° below room temperature. Plate numbers of single columns are 3000–6000, HETP values being 0.4–0.2 mm at flow rates of 25–30 ml/h and o -dichlorobenzene as a test substance.