Countercurrent chromatography, based on liquid-liquid partitioning, has many technological variants. One of them is centrifugal partition chromatography, introduced by Wataru Murayama and Kanichi Nunogaki in 1982. This technique, like other countercurrent chromatography techniques, is based on the phenomenon of liquid-liquid partitioning between two immiscible liquid phases that stay at equilibrium. But the significant difference between this technique and others is the retention mechanism of stationary phase. In the case of centrifugal partition chromatography, this mechanism is based on hydrostatic force, formed by the centrifugal field in the rotor in one-axis centrifuge. Sometimes that allows more control of stationary phase, for example, when aqueous two-phase and other difficult solvent systems are used. However, the efficiency of the separation in centrifugal partition chromatography is also affected by a variety of parameters dependent on the sample properties in the solvent system, physical properties of the solvent system, parameters of the instrument, and the method. This article includes also recent ideas for improvements to the technique and broadening its application (e.g., (multiple) dual-mode or elution-extrusion procedure, pH-zone-refining centrifugal partition chromatography, ion-exchange centrifugal partition chromatography, online and offline coupling of centrifugal partition chromatography).
Keywords: centrifugal partition chromatography; countercurrent chromatography; elution-extrusion; multi-dual mode; partition chromatography.
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