Based on the stoichiometric displacement model for retention in liquid chromatography, the behavior of enthalpy-entropy compensation in the processes of retention, adsorption and desorption of solute in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) was observed and investigated respectively. It was proved that enthalpy-entropy compensation really existed in RPLC. Furthermore, it was theoretically derived that enthalpy-entropy compensation temperature of solute in RPLC intrinsically should be its convergency temperature and equal to the ratio of the slope to the intercept obtained from the linear plot of Z vs 1/T. In addition, compared to that obtained from the estimated method in common use, the compensation temperature of solute in retention process obtained in this study is not only more accurate and reasonable, but also independent of the concentration of the strong solvent in the mobile phase used.

Key words: HIGH SPEED LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY, REVERSED PHASE CHROMATOGRAPHY, SOLUTE