title: Correspondence between chromatography, single-molecule dynamics, and equilibrium: a stochastic approach.
abstract: We report a detailed study concerning the correspondence between separations by chromatography, dynamic quantities coming from single-molecule measurements at the interfaces, and phase partition equilibrium by using the unifying approach of the stochastic description. The fundamental hypotheses allowing establishing the proper links between the three experimental techniques are discussed, and the full correspondence between the different quantities is determined from basic principles. The expressions of the errors on the retention factor which are intrinsically linked to the separation process, and which arise from peak splitting, peak tailing, stochastic bias, injection step, and number of the analyte molecules, are derived under general conditions and discussed in detail. Reference is made to the growing area of microsystems or nanosystems and chip technology, with numerical examples. How to determine the impact of single-molecule dynamics observations on the chromatographic peak shape of the experimentally observed sorption time distribution and, in general, of the behavior of the species at the stationary phase (surfaces, interfaces) is pointed out.
authors.affiliation: University of Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dondi
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavazzini
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin