separation factor, $α$

in column chromatography

The relative retention value calculated for two adjacent peaks ( $V R 2 ' > V R 1 '$ ):

$α = V R 2 ' V R 1 ' = V N 2 V N 1 = t R 2 ' t R 1 ' = k 2 k 1$

By definition, the value of the separation factor is always greater than unity. The separation factor is also identical to the ratio of the corresponding distribution constants. The separation factor is sometimes also called the 'selectivity'. The use of this expression is discouraged.

Source:

PAC, 1993, 65, 819 (Nomenclature for chromatography (IUPAC Recommendations 1993)) on page 844

Related index:

IUPAC > Gold Book > math/physics > quantities

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IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.

Last update: 2014-02-24; version: 2.3.3.

DOI of this term: https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.S05614.

Original PDF version: http://www.iupac.org/goldbook/S05614.pdf. The PDF version is out of date and is provided for reference purposes only. For some entries, the PDF version may be unavailable.

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