2014 Chromatography Columns Survey Results
The wide spectrum of columns available makes selecting this most important component of an LC system extremely difficult. Column choices span normal phase, reverse phase, size exclusion, ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, & affinity chromatography. One is hard-pressed to find a more innovative, self-reflective instrument market.
Top 7 Questions You Should Ask When Buying HPLC Columns
- Based on your analyte(s), matrix, separation goals, and instrumentation, what column does the vendor recommend?
- What benefits does this column offer over your current column? Performance, lifetime, reproducibility, etc.
- How should you clean/prepare your sample prior to injection on the column?
- How do you care for the column? Conditioning, cleaning, storage, etc.
- What type of chromatographic media (fully porous, monolithic, core-shell) is going to provide the most benefit for your separation?
- Do you need a unique selectivity (HILIC, polar-end capped, etc.) to separate any very polar and/ or nonpolar components in your mixture?
- What column dimension is going to be most suitable for your loading requirement?
HPLC column sizes used by survey respondents
| Large ID (> 10 mm dia) | 4% |
| Analytical scale (~4.6 mm dia) | 66% |
| Narrow-bore (1 to 2 mm dia) | 21% |
| Capillary columns (< 0.3 mm dia) | 9% |
According to survey respondents, performance verification tests for wavelength accuracy, stray light, resolution etc. are performed…
| Reversed phase | 24% |
| Normal phase | 19% |
| Ion exchange | 12% |
| Ion chromatography | 9% |
| Hydrophilic interaction (HILIC) | 9% |
| Gel permeation (GPC) | 6% |
| Gel filtration (GFC) | 6% |
| Chiral | 4% |
| Ion exclusion | 4% |
| Affinity | 4% |
Reported HPLC column usage by survey respondents
 | 0 - 1 per month |  |
 | 2-5 per month | |
 | 6-10 per month | |
 | 10-50 per month | |
 | 50+ per month | |
 | Don’t know |
Top 10 features/factors respondents look for when purchasing HPLC columns.
| Technical performance of HPLC columns (e.g. peak shape) | 93% |
| Ruggedness / Durability of HPLC columns | 90% |
| Lot-to-lot reproducibility of HPLC columns | 83% |
| Initial purchase price of column | 70% |
| Reputation of column manufacturer | 70% |
| Applications support | 65% |
| Column discount program | 61% |
| Breadth of HPLC column offering (selectivity) | 58% |
| Method validation / compliance support | 57% |
| Specials and promotions | 55% |
For more information on HPLC columns, including useful articles and a list of manufacturers, visit www.labmanager.com/hplc-columns
