This research studies theoretically and experimentally adsorption of solute from near critical fluids onto stationary phases. Theoretically, statistical mechanical integral equations will be used to describe the equilibrium thermodynamics of solute partitioning, and this will lead to equations for partial molar enthalpies, volumes and ultimately partition coefficients. Experimentally, a chromatographic technique will be used to acquire adsorption data. Both lines of research will focus in particular on how the adsorption of solute changes when the solvent is a mixture of two supercritical fluids in their near critical region. For this case, the proposed research will study the possibility that by varying the solvent composition the behavior of the solute towards the solvent can be modulated from attractive to repulsive.
