column chromatography

:  chromatography in which the substances to be separated are introduced onto the top of a column packed with an adsorbent (as silica gel or alumina), pass through the column at different rates that depend on the affinity of each substance for the adsorbent and for the solvent or solvent mixture, and are usually collected in solution as they pass from the column at different times—compare gas chromatography, paper chromatography, thin-layer chromatography