Counter-current motion in counter-current chromatography

• The proposed new name of liquid–liquid separations for CCC is criticized.
• Countercurrent motion of two phases was demonstrated in two typical CCC systems.
• The original term of “countercurrent chromatography” is justified.

After the CCC2012 meeting, I have received an e-mail regarding the terminology of “Countercurrent Chromatography”. It stated that the term “Countercurrent” is a misnomer, because its stationary phase is motionless in the column and that the method should be renamed as liquid–liquid separations or centrifugal separations. However, it was found that these names are already used for various other techniques as found via Google search. The term “Countercurrent Chromatography” was originally made after two preparative methods of Countercurrent distribution and liquid Chromatography, both having no countercurrent motion in the column. However, it is surprising to find that this F1 hybrid method “Countercurrent Chromatography” can clearly exhibit countercurrent motion within the separation column in both hydrodynamic and hydrostatic equilibrium systems. This justifies that “Countercurrent Chromatography” is a proper term for this chromatographic method.