Cascade chromatography and automated multidimensional fractionation.

A general method of automated multidimensional fractionation has been developed. Its basic ingredients are: (a) cascade fractionation, i.e., the sequential fractionation of components obtained from each chromatographic dimension on the same or a different dimension, (b) on-line acquisition and processing of data at each stage in the fractionation procedure, (c) a method for determining the beginning and end of each peak during column elution, and (d) automatic linkage of the successive stages in a chemical fractionation scheme based on information obtained before or during each stage. Apparatus for automatic cascade chromatography and conditional fractionation is described. The method can be extended to provide completely automatic separation of pure components from complex mixtures.