Home exam autumn term 2010-2011 Umea university

Question 1.

a) Explain the van Deemter curve and account for terms that contribute to the band-broadening in packed and open tubular chromatographic columns. How should the operational parameters in LC and GC be selected to maximize the separation efficiency per unit time? (4 p)

b) Discuss the most common reduced parameters (cf. chapter 1.5.3; this and subsequent chapter references are to the textbook) and explain why these reduced parameters can be advantageous in comparing the column performance for columns of different type and dimension. (2 p)

 c) Discuss the concept of noise in chromatography (cf. chapter 1.8.1). How should, in your opinion, the noise term that goes into the estimation of the limit of detection be determined? (2 p)

d) Discuss the main ideas and mechanisms surrounding the cavity model in solvation theory. (2 p)