chromatography
(krəʊməˈtɒgrəfɪ)
[f. chromato- + -graphy.]
1. Description of colours.
| 1731 Bailey II, Chromatography, a treatise of colours; also the art of painting in colours. 1835 G. Field (title), Chromatography; or a Treatise on Colours and Pigments, and their powers in Painting. |
2. Chem. [ad. G. chromatographie (M. Tswett 1906, in Ber. d. Deut. Bot. Ges. XXIV. 387).] Of liquids: a process of separating and purifying the substances dissolved in a mixed solution by slow passage through a tube or over a surface of adsorbing material, making use of differences of partition, adsorption, ion-exchange, etc., and separating the constituents either as (coloured) bands or spots or by differences in speed of travel when washed through the adsorbing material. Of gases: see gas chromatography, gas n.1 7.
| 1937 Nature 20 Feb. 335/2 The adsorption method of analysis known as chromatography which has been used with such marked success in the investigation of the carotenoid field of organic chemistry. 1946 Ibid. 9 Nov. 675/1 Partition chromatography of the amino-acids. 1949 Abraham & Heatley in H. W. Florey Antibiotics I. ii. 100 Adsorption chromatography has been widely used in the purification of both naturally occurring and synthetic organic compounds... In this method a solution of the substances to be separated is percolated through a column of adsorbent. 1956 [see chromatograph v.2]. 1957 Biochem. Jrnl. LXVI. 3/2 In paper chromatography, the rate of movement of a substance relative to that of the solvent front is expressed as RF. In column chromatography R represents (movement of band)/(movement of liquid above surface of column). 1968 Times 4 Oct. 9/3 They washed people's arms with a solvent liquid and separated the various chemical components in the solvent by chromatography, a method which exploits the fact that different substances soak through solid materials at varying speeds depending on their chemical structure. |
So chromatoˈgraphic, -ˈgraphical adjs., of, pertaining to, or involving chromatography; chromatoˈgraphically adv.
| 1907 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XCII. ii. 144 (heading) Adsorption Analysis and Chromatographic Methods. 1946 Nature 2 Nov. 623/2 Chromatographical methods of..separation. Ibid. 9 Nov. 675/2 The standard spots, which have not been chromatographically developed, give a series of circular inhibition zones. 1949 A. G. Sanders in H. W. Florey Antibiotics I. iii. 183 A method for separating penicillins based on the paper-strip chromatographic technique. 1962 A. Spector in A. Pirie Lens Metabolism Rel. Cataract 332 The chromatographically purified esterase. |