Experimental observations of the hydrodynamic behavior of solvent systems in high-speed counter-current chromatography. II. Phase distribution diagrams for helical and spiral columns.

Extensive studies have been performed on hydrodynamic distribution of two immiscible solvent phases in helical and spiral columns by means of coil planet centrifugation. Under the Scheme IV [see Fig. 1 in Y. Ito, J. Chromatogr., 301 (1984) 377] planetary motion, the two phases display unilateral distribution in the coil, i.e., one phase travels toward the head and the other phase toward the tail. This hydrodynamic trend is sensitively affected by various factors such as physical properties of the solvent system, helical diameter of the column, revolutional radius, etc. Phase distribution diagrams obtained from a set of conventional two-phase solvent systems under various experimental conditions provide extremely useful information for both basic hydrodynamic studies and practical application in high-speed counter-current chromatography.