Investigation of the steric mass action formalism in the simulation of breakthrough curves on a monolithic and a packed bed column.

The simulation of the behaviour of two proteins (cytochrom c and alpha-chymotrypsinogen) on two types of stationary phases (monolithic and porous particle-based) was attempted for non-linear (simulation of breakthrough curves) and linear (simulation of elution peaks) cation exchange chromatography. It was found that the combination of a stoichiometric model (steric mass action, SMA) with the lumped pore diffusion (POR) model allows a simulation of high predictive value. Using one set of SMA and transport parameters for a given column morphology and/or protein, breakthrough curves and peaks could be simulated that agreed well with the experimental data while no dependency on either the protein load or the mobile phase composition (salt content) was observed.

Adsorption equilibria of butyl- and amylbenzene on monolithic silica-based columns.

The adsorption isotherms of butyl- and amylbenzene on silica monolithic columns were measured by frontal analysis. The external, internal and total porosities of these columns were determined by inverse size-exclusion chromatography. The adsorption isotherms are concave upward in the entire concentration range investigated.