Characteristics of a support material:

The essential characteristics of a support material for liquid-liquid partition chromatography are as given under.

i) It should be chemically inert and neither dissolve nor swell in the stationary phase.

ii) It should have large enough surface to retain the stationary phase as a thin uniform film. Porous supports commonly meet these needs.

iii) It should permit the column to have an acceptable pressure drop as regards the mobile phase.

iv) It should have enough mechanical strength and should not grind during column packing, impregnation or regeneration of support material.

v) If being used for routine analysis and commercial purposes it should be relatively cheap, easily available and permit regeneration.