 In the 1970s, most liquid chromatography was performed using a solid support stationary phase (also called a column) containing unmodified silica or alumina resins.This type of technique is now referred to as normal-phase chromatography.Since the stationary phase is hydrophilic in this technique, molecules with hydrophilic properties contained within the mobile phase will have a high affinity for the stationary phase, and therefore will adsorb to the column packing.