Advances in Chromatography
Russian botanist M. S. Tswett submitted the first paper on chromatography to the Journal of the German Botanical Society, in 1906. His work laid the foundation for the use of chromatography in countless analytic applications, such as drug discovery and food purity testing. Today, the demands for faster and more efficient chemical separations have guided innovators toward the extremes of particle size, pressure, temperature, and other chromatography parameters.
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
Every area of chemistry could benefit from more powerful analysis methods. But the enormous popularity of HPLC has kept the technique in the cross hairs of instrument developers for years. The tool is so ubiquitous in today’s laboratories, according to chromatography expert John G. Dorsey, that “liquid chromatography instrumentation now ranks third behind analytical balances and pH meters in number.” Dorsey, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at Florida State University, adds that “every major pharma company has an LC instrument on virtually every bench.” No surprise there, he says, because most analytical tools—mass spectrometers, for example—don’t handle chemical mixtures very well.
Efforts to devise a new generation of HPLC tools have led to new types of column-packing materials, some of which have been commercialized recently; a new generation of instruments with advanced capabilities; and new HPLC applications. Overall, the demands for faster and more efficient chemical separations have guided innovators toward the extremes of particle size, pressure, temperature, and other chromatography parameters.
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Excerpted with permission, Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society