Strategies for the determination of the volume and composition of the stationary phase in reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

The fundamental difficulties currently impeding the elucidation of retention mechanisms in RPLC are reviewed. The various definitions and conventions concerning void volume and excess adsorption in liquid-solid systems are compared and contrasted. The utility and integrity of various chromatographic methods for the measurement of excess adsorption isotherms of HPLC eluents are discussed. Finally, literature methods for obtaining absolute adsorption data from excess quantities are reviewed and evaluated.