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, and affinity chromatography. One is hard-pressed to find a more innovative, self-reflective instrument market.
Top 7 Questions You Should Ask When Buying Chromatography 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 endcapped, 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?
Separation modes used by survey respondents:
| Reverse phase | 60% |
| Normal phase | 49% |
| Ion exchange | 34% |
| Ion chromatography | 28% |
| Affinity | 20% |
| Chiral | 17% |
| Gel filtration (GFC) | 15% |
| Gel permeation (GPC) | 11% |
| Hydrophilic interaction (HILIC) | 8% |
| Ion exclusion | 8% |
| Other | 8% |
Column phases used by survey respondents:
| C18 | 61% |
| Anion exchange | 35% |
| C18 (polar endcapped) | 30% |
| Silica | 31% |
| Cation exchange | 26% |
| Amino | 22% |
| Phenyl | 22% |
| C8 | 20% |
| Biphenyl | 13% |
| Cyano | 10% |
| C4 | 9% |
| PFP | 6% |
| Other | 6% |
Nearly 64% of respondents are engaged in purchasing new chromatography columns. The reasons for these purchases are as follows:
| Require higher quality data | 37% |
| Setting up a new lab / developing a brand new method | 34% |
| Increase column life | 32% |
| Require shorter run times / increased lab throughput | 28% |
| Reduce solvent usage and waste | 24% |
| Trying to reduce operating costs | 22% |
| Addition to existing systems, increase capacity | 21% |
| Require more precise and accurate flow rates | 20% |
| Working with more difficult samples that cause column clogging | 18% |
| Reduce sample prep steps and time | 17% |
| Require a special size column | 7% |
| Other | 15% |
Top 10 features/factors respondents look for when purchasing a chromatography columns:
| Technical performance | 83% |
| Lot to lot reproducibility | 75% |
| Ruggedness / durability | 67% |
| Initial purchase price of column | 45% |
| Applications support | 37% |
| Reputation of column manufacturer | 35% |
| Method variation / compliance support | 34% |
| Column discount program | 29% |
| Available applications literature | 25% |
| Specials and promotions | 21% |
For more information on chromatography columns, including useful articles and a list of manufacturers, visit www.labmanager.com/hplc-columns
