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Definition of Chromatography

Abstract

THE belief that the word ‘chromatography’ was coined by Tswett1 about 1906 is incorrect; it appears to have been widely used, though with a different connotation, for more than a century and a half previously. As so often happens, Tswett appears merely to have adopted an existing word and given it an additional meaning. Paradoxically, many modern works of reference define chromatography in every way but the one which would first spring to the mind of a chemist.

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References

  1. Tswett, M. S., Ber. Deut. Bot. Ges., 24, 316 (1906); ibid., 384; “Works of the Warsaw Society of Natural Sciences”, 14, Biol. Sec., Min. 6 (1903).

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  2. Bailey, N., “Universal Etymological English Dictionary”, 2nd ed. (1731).

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  4. New ‘Standard’ Dictionary of the English Language” (Funk and Wagnall, New York and London, 1949).

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  6. Zechmeister, L., and Cholnoky, L., “Principles and Practice of Chromatography” (English translation) (1941).

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  9. Williams, T. I., and Weil, H., Arkiv. för Kemi, Mineralogi och Geologie (in the press).

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WILLIAMS, T., WEIL, H. Definition of Chromatography. Nature 170, 503 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/170503b0

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