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Meaning & use

retention time

noun·Advancedtechnicalchemistry

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UK/rɪˈtenʃn taɪm/
US/rɪˈtenʃn taɪm/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable or uncountabletechnicalchemistry

    The time a substance takes to travel through a chromatography column and reach the detector after being injected.

    Grammar: Countable for a specific value: a retention time of 4.2 minutes. Uncountable in general use.

    Patterns

    • a retention time of number
    • retention time of a compound

    Caffeine appeared at a retention time of 3.8 minutes.

    Changing the solvent mix shortened the retention time.

    The analyst identified the compound by comparing its retention time with a standard.

  2. nouncountable or uncountablecomputing

    The length of time that data, records or material is kept before it is deleted or released.

    Grammar: Often uncountable: set the retention time for backups.

    Patterns

    • retention time for something
    • set a retention time

    The company set a retention time of seven years for tax records.

    A short retention time for emails saves storage space.

    The pond has a long retention time, so pollutants settle slowly.

Word forms

pluralretention times

Common combinations

a retention time of
The peak had a retention time of five minutes.
shorter retention time
A shorter retention time speeds up the analysis.
measure retention time
We measure retention time for each sample.
set the retention time
Set the retention time for logs at ninety days.
match the retention time
Match the retention time to the reference compound.

Synonyms and how they differ

elution time
Elution time is nearly identical in chromatography but focuses on when the compound washes out of the column.
holding period
Holding period is used for records and money, so it does not fit chemistry.
storage period
Storage period is plain language for how long something is kept, not for how fast it moves through a system.
residence time
Residence time is the average time a substance stays in a system such as a lake or reactor, which is a wider engineering term.

Word family

retain verb
to keep or hold
retention noun
the act of keeping or holding
retentive adjective
able to keep, such as a good memory
retained adjective
kept or held back

Commonly confused: retention time or residence time?

retention time vs residence time

Residence time is the average time a substance stays in a system. Retention time is the time to a specific peak in a chromatogram.

Practice

In chromatography, a compound that moves more strongly attached to the column will usually have a ____ retention time.

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