Extra-column dispersion of macromolecular solutes in aqueous-phase size-exclusion chromatography

A set of dextran standards was used to study the extra-column dispersion in conventional chromatographic equipment at a broad range of molecular weights, different mobile phase flow rates and connecting tube lengths and diameters. All known correlations for the tube dispersion at laminar flow, including those for short tubes, overestimated the values of the variance of the outlet concentration signal. The difference increased with the solute molecular weight and the flow rate. It was assumed that the discrepancy was due to the effect of natural convection invoked by the density differences of the injected dextran solutions and water. A suitable approximation of the relative band spreading was suggested in a form of a power function of the Reynolds and Schmidt numbers. A significant decrease of the dispersion was observed when the chromatography tubing was coiled into a circle. This decrease was successfully predicted combining the existing correlations for long coiled tubes and short straight tubes.