High performance liquid chromatography

(HPLC)
Separate, identify & quantify components dissolved in
a liquid solvent with a high analytical resolution.
Sample carried by a moving gas stream of Helium or
Nitrogen
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is a form of column
chromatography that pumps a sample mixture or analyte in a solvent (known as
the mobile phase) at high pressure through a column with chromatographic
packing material (stationary phase). The sample is carried by a moving carrier gas
stream of helium or nitrogen. HPLC has the ability to separate, and identify
compounds that are present in any sample that can be dissolved in a liquid in trace
concentrations as low as parts per trillion. Because of this versatility, HPLC is used
in a variety of industrial and scientific applications, such as pharmaceutical,
environmental, forensics, and chemicals.

Sample retention time will vary depending on the interaction between the stationary
phase, the molecules being analyzed, and the solvent, or solvents used. As the
sample passes through the column it interacts between the two phases at different
rate, primarily due to different polarities in the analytes. Analytes that have the
least amount of interaction with the stationary phase or the most amount of
interaction with the mobile phase will exit the column faster.

Instrumentation:
Main components in an HPLC system include the solvent reservoir, or multiple
reservoirs, a high-pressure pump, a column, injector system and the detector.

Detection limit Gas recommendation Regulator recommendation

Purge gas
≤ 1 ppm HiQ Helium 5.0 BASELINE C106
series

The reservoir holds the solvent, which is referred to as the mobile phase because it
moves. There are usually a minimum of two reservoirs in a system, with each
holding up to 1000 cc of solvent and usually fitted with a gas diffuser through which
helium can be bubbled. A pump is used to generate a specified flow of the mobile
phase. Although manual injection of samples is still possible, most HPLCs are now
fully automated and controlled by computer. The injector, or auto sampler,
introduces the solvent into a phase stream that carries the sample into the high
pressure (up to 400 bar) column, which contains specific packing material needed
to effect separation. The packing material is referred to as the stationary phase
because it is held in place by the column hardware.

A detector is needed to see the separated compound bands as they elute from the
high pressure column. The information is sent from the detector to a computer
which generates the chromatogram. The mobile phase exits the detector and is
either sent to a waste, or collected, as desired.

Helium sparging is an effective method of degassing the mobile phase to avoid

unstable baselines caused by dissolved air. Nitrogen is used as a nebulisation gas
in Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (ELSD) where the solvent is evaporated
from the sample leaving a mist as is measured.

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography - Other HPLC Types

Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (uHPLC):

Where standard HPLC typically uses column particles with sizes from 3 to 5µm and
pressures of around 400 bar, uHPLC use specially designed columns with particles
down to 1.7µm in size, at pressures in excess of 1000 bar. The main advantage of
an uHPLC is speed. These systems are faster, more sensitive, and rely on smaller
volumes of organic solvents than standard HPLC, resulting in the ability to run
more samples in less time. However, if the systems are run at typical pressures
greater than 800 bar, the columns age, or degrade quicker. Newer technology is
being developed for uHPLC units to use column particles with 1µm size, and
pressure potentials up to 6,800 bar.

uHPLC is also known as UPLCTM, a trademark of the Waters Corporation.

Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC):

FPLC is a system similar to high-performance liquid chromatography that is used
to separate or purify proteins and other biomolecules from complex mixtures. The
main difference between FPLC and HPLC is the standard working pressure. FPLC
columns can only be used up to maximal pressures of 3-5 MPa. If the pressure of
the HPLC can be limited, nearly every FPLC column may also be used in an HPLC
system.