| abstract |
Apparatus and method for the chromatographic quantitative analysis of a solution containing a plurality of ions. In a particular analysis, the assay is limited to determining either solely the cations or solely the anions. A sample of the solution is added to a first ion exchange bed and eluted therefrom with a solution of developing reagent. The effluent from the first ion exchange bed is passed through a second ion exchange bed where the developing reagent is converted to a weakly ionized form and the ions of interest are paired with a common ion of the opposite sign without destroying the ionic separation produced by the first ion exchange bed. Each separated ionic species of the preselected common sign is quantitatively sensed by a detector, such as a conductivity cell, on exiting from the second ion exchange bed. |