This award supports Dr. Daniel E. Martire of Georgetown University for cooperative research in separation processes with Professor Ervin Kovats of the Ecole Polytechnique Federal of Lausanne, Switzerland. Their collaboration draws on the respective expertise of Dr. Martire in theoretical analysis and Prof. Kovats in novel chemical synthesis, and on their common strength in the measurement of thermodynamic solution properties by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). The primary objective of their research is to develop more reliable and quantitative, correlative and predictive methods for GLC retention, based on sound molecular theory. They have completed experimental studies on well-characterized systems, carefully selected to display a wide range of molecular chain length and interactional effects. Dr. Martire now plans to apply a novel unified theory of chromatography to the theoretical analysis of the thermodynamic results. A further objective of their collaboration is to guide the synthesis of polar and polarizable standard liquid phases for GLC, based on the Apolane compounds developed in Switzerland. Chromatography is the most important and widely used instrumental method for the physical separation of mixtures of chemical compounds, and ultimately their identification and quantification. However, much analytical chromatography is still practiced in an empirical manner, which is both time consuming and often unreliable, especially when novel separation compounds are encountered. The results of this research will promote a more informed and efficient approach to assessing GLC separations, by guiding the selection or design of the most effective mobile and stationary phases for a given separation.
