Primary emphasis is placed on the various techniques of chromatography.
The first third of the semester is devoted to introducing the students to the fundamental definitions, theories, and practical applications of gas and liquid chromatography. A working knowledge of calculus is required for the derivation of the theoretical relations between thermodynamics and chromatography. The middle portion of the course is centered on development of the skills required to operate and understand the basic principle of modern HPLC instrumentation. The laboratory exercise associated with this segment of the course usually involves the use of high pressure liquid chromatographic instrumentation with a spectroscopic detection system to perform a quantitative analysis of an analytical sample. The final part of the course involves the use of a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometric detector.