Eluting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The technique involving the extraction of solutes from a solid matrix by using a liquid solvent is essential in analytical chemistry
2. A method that facilitates the separation of specific compounds from a mixture by selectively dissolving them with a fluid is commonly employed in laboratory settings
3. The act of separating one component from a mixture by washing it through a solvent flow

Etymology: "Eluting" is the present participle of "elute," a word first recorded in English in 1731, when it was borrowed from Latin "ēlūtus," the past participle of "ēluere," meaning "to wash away." The Latin verb combined "ē-," "out," with "luere," "to wash," so its original sense was simply washing something out of something else. The modern laboratory meaning keeps that picture almost intact. In chromatography, a mixture is poured onto a column packed with a material that holds some components more tightly than others, and a solvent is then flowed through it. The substances wash out at different rates, so the solvent literally carries one component away from the rest, which is the sense of the Latin root applied to a chemical process.