GOALI Retention Processes in Gas-Liquid and Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography. A Molecular Simulation Study

This Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project is supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities. The work of Professor Siepmann and the work of Dr. Schure is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota -- Twin Cities and Rohm and Haas on an extremely important area of analytical application. This study of the basic retention mechanisms in gas chromatography and reverse phase liquid chromatography will provide an ability to predict retention times based on a molecular-level understanding of partition. Professor Siepmann and his students at the University of Minnesota will work in collaboration with Dr. Schure at Rohm and Haas to systematically model the adsorption and partition properties of classic systems studied in separation science, such as the interactions of linear and branched alkanes with a non-polar hydrocarbon-based stationary phase. This work will be extended to studies of homologous series of alkanes, alcohols, and alkylbenzenes. Students involved in this research project will be exposed to the impact and development of separations science within a major chemical company. Mentoring of these students by industrial scientists will be invaluable to them as they make career decisions, and provide them with an added perspective beyond the university. The area of separations science in general, despite its predominance in the industrial setting, is under-represented in academic research programs. Students working with Professor Siepmann and Dr. Schure will gain especially valuable professional expertise.

The ability to separate two compounds by gas chromatography or reverse phase liquid chromatography is based on differences in adsorption of the sample molecules onto a stationary support. Understanding of this process at the molecular level is incomplete. This collaborative project between Siepmann (academic) and Schure (industry) will increase the level of understanding, and allow prediction of the extent of separation between sample molecules by gas chromatography.