When using column chromatography to purify an amine, alumina is the best choice of stationary phase (rather than silica gel.) Could this be due to alumina being slightly basic and thus the impurities are retained in the column longer?
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$\begingroup$ I am not a specialist but it may be due to the lone pair of the nitrogen and the electronic gap of the aluminium. Don't forget that Al is on the third line of the PT so it can be hypervalent. He has no electron in his 3d-orbital and "a part" of an electron can be in. $\endgroup$– ParaH2Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 22:23
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