Environmental applications of flow field-flow fractionation (FIFFF)

Field-flow fractionation (FFF) is an emerging family of techniques used to obtain information on particle size or relative molecular mass (RMM) distributions in complex matrices, such as environmental and biological samples. Flow FFF (FIFFF) is the most widely used version of the technique and is applicable to macromolecules, particles and colloids ranging from 0.001 mum (approximately 1000 molecular mass) up to at least 50 gm in diameter. This article describes the various components of FIFFF instrumentation, the nature of the separation process and the theory that relates retention time to RMM. Summary tables of the application of FIFFF to environmental and biological matrices and the detection of polymers and inorganic colloids are also presented. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.