Question #ab7a3
1 Answer
Feb 25, 2015
Cation exchange chromatography aims at retaining cations, or positively charged particles, which implies that the stationary phase will use a negatively charged absorbent functional group.
Think opposite charges attract and like charges repel, that is the concept behind ion-exchange chromatography.
The charge on the stationary phase is usually selected depending on what type of proteins you're dealing with. In the case of cation exchange chromatography, negatively charged particles are used to retain and separate positively charged proteins.
