What is Chromatography?
You may have found this website by mistake and so find yourself asking the question: "What is all this chromatography stuff about?". If so, then here is the answer, Chromatography is the means by which complex mixtures of chemicals are separated to enable the components that make up these mixtures to be identified and measured.
Most things (you included) are complex mixtures of chemicals.
The invention of partition chromatography was regarded as so important, that Archer Martin and Richard Synge were awarded the 1952 Nobel prize in chemistry for their efforts. Since its birth, chromatography, in its several forms, has benefited from the efforts of some of the World's greatest scientists and undergone considerable development such that it now the dominant way of performing chemical analysis.
Chromatography and the scientists that use it (Chromatographers), play a vital, usually unseen, role in the production and protection of everything that is most important to us. The modern world would be a very different (and far less pleasant) place without it and them. Our future wealth, health and prosperity will, in some degree, depend upon chromatography and the skills, ingenuity and integrity of the people who use it.
Scientists involved in chromatography are generally obsessed with achieving great certainty in their measurements.
If a chromatographer says something is so, you can believe what he says. Chromatographers are fixated with being right, because they know that the information they generate is so very, very important. People's lives, ultimately, may depend upon decisions taken based upon chromatographic data. The quality, characteristics and safety of the air that we breath, the water we drink, the food that we eat, the land that we build on, the medicines that we take, the clothes that we wear, the cosmetics we use, the fuels we burn all depend, in part, upon chromatography. Take a look around you. There is no material in sight that does not depend upon chromatography. The paper in the printer, the paint on the wall, the plastic of your pen (and the ink within), the fabrics of you clothes, the coffee in your mug, the varnish on the desk...
Whenever the World faces challenges, large or small, be it global warming, international terrorism, organised crime, the search for alternative energy sources, finding a cure for cancer or searching for extraterrestrial life; Chromatographers are always there, behind the scenes working, with little fuss and great care, to generate the accurate and precise information, without which, meaningful scientific progress cannot be made.
Chromatography is a noble profession, largely unknown and unappreciated by the general public. If you want to know more you will find a good explanation of how chromatography works at www.wikipedia.org.
Anatune is very proud to play its small part in all of this. We supply chromatographers with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently, and also provide the technical support needed to keep their instrumentation working correctly.