Accurate and rapid estimation of adsorption isotherms in liquid chromatography using the inverse method on plateaus

The inverse method (IM) is an attractive approach for estimating adsorption isotherm parameters in liquid chromatography (LC), mainly due to its experimental simplicity and low sample consumption. This article presents a new experimental approach, the inverse method on plateaus (IMP), which uses elution profiles on concentration plateaus together with IM. This approach enabled us to obtain very accurate adsorption isotherms that agreed well with those estimated by means of frontal analysis over the entire concentration range under consideration. IMP is recommended when accurate adsorption isotherm estimates are required, and standard IM is insufficient.