Fraction Collectors for Conducting Chromatography on a Centrifugal Platform

In this study, various fraction collectors were developed for a chromatographic process on a centrifugal platform. After loading a 5 μL mixture of water-soluble dyes, the centrifugal platform is capable of separating the mixture components with a silica gel column and collecting the eluate by a series of collecting chambers. However, poor recovery ratios were observed in the current design due to the convective band-broadening effect. To solve this problem, a few fraction collectors, such as unidirectional, bidirectional, multidirectional, and manual operation fraction collectors, were developed to improve the recovery ratio of the water-soluble dyes. Experimental results showed that by controlling the rotational speeds of the centrifugal platform, eluate can be directed into different compartments and the convective band-broadening effect can be reduced.