Two isotopic compounds are produced in the synthesis of a new therapeutic drug which must be separated by repeated chromatography cycles. In each cycle, the solution containing both compounds must pass through a chromatography column with a length L = 75.0 cm. The column has N theoretical plates and the unadjusted relative retention is ? = 1.008.
A) Calculate the number of theoretical plates N in the column of length L in 20 cycles. The observed resolution is 1.81.
B) Now, calculate the plate height in the column in ?m.
C) Estimate the resolution in 4 cycles.