Abstract

The inverse gas chromatography (IGC) technique has been employed to examine adsorption behavior of cellulose surfaces from elution characteristics of chemically different adsorbates. The neutral probes were eluted completely during IGC measurements while acidic, amphoteric, and basic probe molecules were eluted incompletely. In this work, complete elution is defined by the flat postpeak FID signal within the noise limits of the detector. An understanding of incomplete elution is thereby reached by introducing a precisely controlled, very small quantity of individual probes into the column. A strong correlation is found between elution efficiency of vapors and their enthalpies of acid-base interactions. Delayed elution of acid-base vapors is interpreted as being due to nonequilibrium sorption process, and calculations have shown that diffusion into the bulk is unlikely under the measurement conditions. The chromatographic process is simulated and it is found that the contribution of nonequilibrium adsorption to the retention is responsible for observed peak tailing and thereby delayed elution of acid-base probes. Results of the study indicate that characterization of acid-base (electron acceptor-donor) type of stationary phase material surfaces by IGC needs careful attention and is an area for future work. Copyright 1997 Academic Press. Copyright 1997Academic Press