AddisonJ

I think I see your point. Whatever I replace the NaOH with will also need to be replaced later by the water. And if the buffer salt binds just as tightly to the column as the NaOH, then there's no advantage to rinsing with salt first. I was assuming that the NaOH is binding very tightly, but somebody pointed out to me that it binds more weakly than most salts would. So maybe I should be asking about the importance of removing the NaOH completely. Would residual OH- still bound to the column (quaternized polyethyleneimine or quaternary ammonium ligand) due to a low rinse volume cause any damage over time? And would the 20% ethanol that is added for storage pull any residual OH- off of the column since they are both polar?

Hi all. I use 0.5 M NaOH for cleaning anion and cation exchange resins and need a quick/efficient way of removing the NaOH before storage in 20% ethanol. H2O does not work quickly enough - can take more than 10 column volumes. I think I need a buffer at high concentration (1M) that can displace the OH- ions quickly, then I would follow with H2O (so salts won't precipitate when ethanol is used later for storage). I'm hoping to use maybe 1 column volume of high concentration buffer and 2-3 column volumes of H2O. Which buffer(s) would work well? I would prefer to use the same buffer for all cation and anion resins if possible for convenience. Any advice?