Classical Retention Mechanism in Ion Exchange Chromatography. Theory and Experiment

The classical model for ion exchange chromatography is characterized by firmly adsorbed driving ions at the surface of the stationary phase in an amount required by electroneutrality and stoichiometric ion exchange between the bulk of the eluent electrolyte and this immobilized Stern layer. Retention equations have been derived for system peaks, labeled eluent ions, and analytes in a system containing only strong electrolytes by strictly respecting this model. It is shown that the classical model described dependence of retention data on concentration and composition of the binary eluent with excellent precision, but the resulting system parameters were not self-consistent. Inconsistency of the results might be due to contributions from another retention mechanism.