Stationary Phase

From TheLiquidPhase

The Stationary Phase is the substance which is fixed in place in the chromatographic apparatus and is the phase which the Mobile Phase travels through. As a mixture is applied to the Column, each analyte has a certain affinity for the mobile phase and stationary phase.

The truly unique feature of Countercurrent Chromatography is that the stationary phase is a true liquid, i.e. with no solid support. Because the sample has access to the entire stationary phase (as opposed to an unknowable proportion of the stationary phase near the surface of the solid support as in HPLC), the loading capacity is much greater in CCC than in any other preparative separation technique.

See: Berthod, A, Ed. Countercurrent Chromatography: The support-free liquid stationary phase (Wilson & Wilson's Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry Vol. XXXVIII); Elsevier Science Ltd.: Boston, 2002.