Abstract
As the packing material for HPLC, ceramic fluoroapatite beads were prepared from the micro crystalline through heat sintering procedure. Fluoroapatite has been known to be mechanically stronger and chemically more stable than hydroxyapatite, but chromatographic properties have not been known. In the present paper, basic properties of ceramic fluoroapatite beads are described. The beads appeared to be spherical and porous, and the distribution of particle size was in the normal distribution with logarithmic scale. The stability of the fluoride moiety of the fluoroapatite in chromatography was tested by X-ray analysis and IR-spectroscopy. The fluoride was stable in fairly acidic codition, and could be used for the chromatography of acidic proteins. The elution behavior of proteins on ceramic fluoroapatite column seemed to be very similar with ceramic hydroxyapatite beads column.
