ION EXCHANGE CHROMATOGRAPHY: Ion-exchange chromatography (or ion chromatography) is a process that allows the separation of ions and

polar molecules based on their charge. It can be used for almost any kind of charged molecule including large proteins, small nucleotides and amino acids. The solution to be injected is usually called a sample, and the individually separated components are called analytes. It is often used in protein purification, water analysis, and quality control. Types of ion e changers include!

"olystyrene resins # These allow cross linkage which increases the stability of the chain. $igher cross linkage reduces swerving, which increases the equilibration time and ultimately improves selectivity. %ellulose and de tran ion e changers (gels) # These possess larger pore si&es and low charge densities making them suitable for protein separation. %ontrolled'pore glass or porous silica

In general, ion e changers favor the binding of ions of higher charge and smaller radius. Princip e Ion e change chromatography retains analyte molecules on the column based on coulombic (ionic) interactions. The stationary phase surface displays ionic functional groups ((')) that interact with analyte ions of opposite charge. This type of chromatography is further subdivided into cation e change chromatography and anion e change chromatography. The ionic compound consisting of the cationic species *+ and the anionic species ,' can be retained by the stationary phase. Ion exchanger

Ion exchange re!in "ea#!

Ion exchange

Ion exchange is an e change of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a comple . In most cases the term is used to denote the processes of purification, separation, and decontamination of aqueous and other ion'containing solutions with solid polymeric or mineralic -ion e changers-. Typical ion e changers are ion e change resins (functionali&ed porous or gel polymer), &eolites, montmorillonite, clay, and soil humus. Ion e changers are either cation exchanger! that e change positively charged ions (cations) or anion exchanger! that e change negatively charged ions (anions). There are also amphoteric exchanger! that are able to e change both cations and anions simultaneously. $owever, the simultaneous e change of cations and anions can be more efficiently performed in mixed beds that contain a mi ture of anion and cation e change resins, or passing the treated solution through several different ion e change materials. Ion e changers can be unselective or have binding preferences for certain ions or classes of ions, depending on their chemical structure. This can be dependent on the si&e of the ions, their charge, or their structure. Typical e amples of ions that can bind to ion e changers are!

$+ (proton) and .$/ (hydro ide) 0ingle'charged monoatomic ions like 1a+, 2+, and %l/ 3ouble'charged monoatomic ions like %a4+ and *g4+ "olyatomic inorganic ions like 0.54/ and ".56/ .rganic bases, usually molecules containing the amino functional group '1(4$+

.rganic acids, often molecules containing '%../ (carbo ylic acid) functional groups ,iomolecules that can be ioni&ed! amino acids, peptides, proteins, etc.

Ion e change is a reversible process and the ion e changer can be regenerated or loaded with desirable ions by washing with an e cess of these ions.

App ication!
Ion e change is widely used in the food 7 beverage, hydrometallurgical, metals finishing, chemical 7 petrochemical, pharmaceutical, sugar 7 sweeteners, ground 7 potable water, nuclear, softening 7 industrial water, semiconductor, power, and a host of other industries. *ost typical e ample of application is preparation of high purity water for power engineering, electronic and nuclear industries8 i.e. polymeric or mineralic insoluble ion exchanger! are widely used for water softening, water purification, water decontamination, etc. Ion e change is a method widely used in household (laundry detergents and water filters) to produce soft water. This is accomplished by e changing calcium %a4+ and magnesium *g4+ cations against 1a+ or $+ cations (see water softening). Industrial and analytical ion e change chromatography is another area to be mentioned. Ion e change chromatography is a chromatographical method that is widely used for chemical analysis and separation of ions. 9or e ample, in biochemistry it is widely used to separate charged molecules such as proteins. :n important area of the application is e traction and purification of biologically produced substances such as proteins (amino acids) and 31:;(1:. Ion'e change processes are used to separate and purify metals, including separating uranium from plutonium and other actinides, including thorium, and lanthanum, neodymium, ytterbium, samarium, lutetium, from each other and the other lanthanides. There are two series of rare earth metals, the lanthanides and the actinides, both of whose families all have very similar chemical and physical properties. <sing methods developed by 9rank 0pedding in the =>5?s, ion'e change used to be the only practical way to separate them in large quantities, until the advent of solvent e traction techniques that can be scaled up enormously. : very important case is the "<(@) process (plutonium'uranium e traction process), which is used to separate the plutonium and the uranium from the spent fuel products from a nuclear reactor, and to be able to dispose of the waste products. Then, the plutonium and uranium are available for making nuclear'energy materials, such as new reactor fuel and nuclear weapons.

The ion'e change process is also used to separate other sets of very similar chemical elements, such as &irconium and hafnium, which is also very important for the nuclear industry. Airconium is practically transparent to free neutrons, used in building reactors, but hafnium is a very strong absorber of neutrons, used in reactor control rods. Ion e changers are used in nuclear reprocessing and the treatment of radioactive waste. Ion e change resins in the form of thin membranes are used in chloralkali process, fuel cells and vanadium redo batteries. Ion e change can also be used to remove hardness from water by e changing calcium and magnesium ions for hydrogen and chlorine ions in an ion e change column.

Other applications

In soil science, cation e change capacity is the ion e change capacity of soil for positively charged ions. 0oils can be considered as natural weak cation e changers. In planar waveguide manufacturing, ion e change is used to create the guiding layer of higher inde of refraction. 3ealkali&ation, removal of alkali ions from a glass surface. %hemically strengthened glass, produced by e changing 1a+ for 2+ in glass surfaces using 21.6 melts.

Ion Exchange Chromatography The most popular method for the purification of proteins and other charged molecules is ion exchange chromatography. In cation exchange chromatography positively charged molecules are attracted to a negatively charged solid support. Conversely, in anion exchange chromatography, negatively charged molecules are attracted to a positively charged solid support. Mechanism To optimize binding of all charged molecules, the mobile phase is generally a low to medium conductivity (i.e., low to medium salt concentration) solution. The adsorption of the molecules to the solid support is driven by the ionic interaction between the oppositely charged ionic groups in the sample molecule and in the functional ligand on the support. The strength of the interaction is determined by the number and location of the charges on the molecule and on the functional group. y increasing the salt concentration (generally by using a linear salt gradient) the molecules with the wea!est ionic interactions start to elute from the column first. "olecules that have a stronger ionic interaction re#uire a higher salt concentration and elute later in the gradient. The binding capacities of ion exchange resins are generally #uite high. This is of ma$or importance in process scale chromatography, but is not critical for analytical scale separations.