UHPLC - A Small Step for Man, or a Giant Leap for Mankind?

摘要

In the mid 1990's, HPLC was being described as a mature product. Most of the development was considered to have been done, and soon it would become a catalogue product like a hotplate stirrer. How far from reality that has turned out to be. HPLCis developing faster now than at any time since it was first introduced. Just think of the changes with mass spec, nano HPLC, high temperature HPLC, column developments, and by no means least, UHPLC. At its outset in the early 1970's, HPLC used columns as long as 1 meter filled with 40-50um particles, and with injections made with a syringe through a septum directly into the packing bed at the top of the column. Then came microparticulate silicas, and 50cm followed by 25cm columns were introduced, packed with 10um materials. Separations were much better, but UV detectors were still spectrophotometers with a flow cell. Remember the old Cecil with a Waters M6000 pump? It was a 'new day in HPLC.