Hydrophobicity of ionisable compounds studied by countercurrent chromatography

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a liquid chromatography technique in which the stationary phase is also a liquid. The main chemical process involved in solute separation is partitioning between the two immiscible liquid phases: the mobile phase and the support-free liquid stationary phase. The octanol-water partition coefficients (P(o/w)) is the accepted parameter measuring the hydrophobicity of molecules. It is considered to estimate active principle partitioning over a biomembrane. It was related to the substance biological activity. CCC is able to work with an octanol stationary phase and an aqueous mobile phase. In this configuration, CCC is a useful and easy alternative to measu…