Chromatography in the nature

Summary A short review is given on the chromatographic processes occurring in the nature. Such processes are represented by the alteration of the composition of petroleum during its migration through earth rocks, the halochromatographic distribution of gases near oil and gas deposits as well as by other geological and biological phenomena.Editor's CommentsIn 1978, we are celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary ofTswett's first paper on his investigations leading to the development of chromatography. On March 21, 1903,M. S. Tswett presented at the meeting of the Biological Section of the Warsaw Society of Natural Sciences a preliminary communication On a New Category of Adsorption Phenomena and their Application to Biochemical Analysis [1]. In this lecture, he reported on the first part of his experiments aimed to separate plant pigments.Tswett systematically tested a very large number of solids to check the possibility of using them as adsorbents; he definitely understood the nature of adsorption and already took an important step forward by being able to have spatial separation of several zones on the adsorbent.AlthoughTswett did not describe in 1903 his method (which was not yet finalized) as chromatography — this name was first used in 1906, in his two well-known papers [2, 3] — his investigations were already in a well advanced stage. Thus, we can safely characterize his 1903 communication as his first paper on chromatography.On the occasion of this anniversary, we hope to be able to publish a number of articles on the development of chromatography and its place in science, and our readers are urged to consider such contributions. The present article of Dr.Vigdergauz is the first in this series.L. S. Ettre