ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Micellar liquid chromatography

Micellar liquid chromatography is like a game of sorting things in a big messy room. Imagine you have a room full of toys, books, and clothes that all look similar. You want to sort them all out and put them in different piles based on what they are.

In the same way, scientists have a mix of different molecules that they want to separate and identify in a sample. They use micellar liquid chromatography to sort out these molecules by putting them through a special tube that has tiny beads inside it. These beads are covered with a special type of soap called a surfactant.

When the sample goes through the tube, the molecules stick to the surfactant on the beads. The surfactant acts like a magnet and pulls the molecules with it as it moves through the tube. But, depending on how big the molecules are and how tightly they stick to the surfactant, they will move at different speeds.

So, smaller molecules that don't stick to the surfactant as well will move through the tube faster, while larger molecules that stick tightly to the surfactant will move slower. This way, scientists can separate out all the different types of molecules in the sample and identify them based on their size and how they interact with the surfactant.

So, just like sorting out all the toys, books, and clothes in your messy room, scientists use micellar liquid chromatography to sort out and identify all the different types of molecules in a sample.