Chromatography general

Chromatography is the name given in chemistry to a process which permits the separation of a mixture of substances by different distribution of its individual constituents between a stationary and a mobile phase. This method is used in production for the purification of substances (= preparative chromatography) on the one hand, and in chemical analysis on the other hand, to separate mixtures of substances into constituents that are as uniform as possible for the purpose of identification or quantitative determination. Chromatography is used in organic chemistry, pharmacy, biochemistry, biotechnology, microbiology, food chemistry, environmental chemistry and also in inorganic chemistry.