Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins - Devényi T., Gergely J. 1976

Ion-exchange chromatography in a fixed bed of ion exchanger
Types of "Fixion" plates

A Glass or plastic plate can be used as a support for preparing a fixed ion-exchanger layer. A layer on a glass support is more convenient than one fixed on plastic because glass is rigid, whereas a plastic plate is too flexible and may bend under the weight of the applied ion exchanger. Consequently, plastic Supports require additional stabilization, and their use also leads to undesirable electrostatic “wall effects”.

Nevertheless, plastic-backed layers offer several advantages that are important for the researcher. Glass plates come in standard sizes (20 × 20 or 10 × 20 cm), whereas a coated plastic plate can be cut with scissors into pieces of any desired size. This is particularly useful when the researcher is testing a suitable buffer solution for a new method.

In principle, any type of resin is suitable for preparing a thin layer. One such plate, “Fixion 50 × 8,” features a strong cation-exchanger layer fixed on a plastic film. The numbers in the product name indicate the resin type—in this case, Dowex 50 × 8 resin in the Na⁺ form, specifically prepared for Thin-Layer Chromatography.