Comparison of void volume, mobile phase volume and accessible volume determined from retention data for oligomers in reversed-phase liquid chromatographic systems

The experimental technique of mass spectrometric tracer pulse chromatography was used to determine the void volume, i.e., the total volume of eluent in the column, and the volume of eluent moving freely through the column, i.e., mobile phase volume, for a series of eluents with a C18-bonded RPLC column. The interstitial volume of the column was determined by size exclusion chromatography. In order to evaluate the utility of the accessible volumes determined from the retention volumes of homologous solutes, the accessible volume of the column was determined as a function of eluent composition and temperature with polystyrene and polyethylene glycol samples using Martin's Rule. Comparison of these four measured volumes indicated that the experimentally measured accessible volumes did not correspond to either the void volumes, mobile phase volumes or interstitial volumes.