A chemist wishes to carry out a gravity chromatographic separation using diethyl ether and ethanol as the eluting solvents.
(a) With which solvent should the chemist begin the elution?
(b) What would happen if the chemist started with the other solvent?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer is (a) An elution chromatography is always started with the less polar solvent-diethyl ether, in this case.
(b) The more polsr solvent (ethanol) will carry all components through the column with little or no separation.

A Chemist Wishes to Carry Out a Gravity Chromatographic Separation