Question

1. An anion-exchange resin can be used instead of the cation-exchange resin in this experiment to separate the three amino acids in the known mixture. What changes to experimental protocol are required to achieve complete resolution? Support your response with an explanation. (HINT: consider pH).

Answer 1

Solution :

The difference between anion and cation resins is that one is positively charged and the other is negatively charged. In cation-exchange technique, negatively-charged resin is used to bind positively-charged analytes, while in anion-exchange technique, negatively-charged analytes bind to positively-charged resin.

Thus, when cation exchange resin is replaced by anion exchange resin during the separation of amino acids, then we must use the negatively charged resin in place of positively charged resins during the experiment.