What is Chromatography?

Chromatography is a laboratory technique that is used to separate, identify, and purify components of a mixture for downstream applications. 

It is widely used to purify proteins based on characteristics such as size, structure, hydrophobic groups present on the surface, total charge, and capacity to bind with the stationary phase.

There are several different types of chromatography techniques. Although each of these techniques uses a slightly different mechanism for protein purification, they are all based on the interaction between a mobile phase and a stationary phase. The mobile phase carries the mixture to be separated and the stationary phase performs the separation. One phase is typically hydrophilic while the other phase is lipophilic. As the analyte passes through the column, the individual components interact differently with the stationary phase and are retarded to a greater or lesser extent depending on its polarity. This results in the separation of the different components in the sample. The target component is then eluted from the stationary phase for further study and analysis.