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Re:LC Services Ltd - Welcome you to our forum - 2005/06/17 07:07
am a user of columns. I agree completely with Gerhard. When I first started performing HPLC determinations, 30 years ago, I was included in a group of 4, none of us knowing anything about chromatography. We would regularly replace columns at a rate of 3 to 4 a week. Of that group, I am the only one still working with chromatography. Over the years I have learned that columns are not the source of problems. If you have proper methods using mobile phases that consider column chemistry, include proper sample preparation, provide instructions for column preparation prior to and after analysis as well as proper storage instructions between uses, a column's life span can be longer than a chromatographer's career. I have in use in my lab today 3 columns that are 10 years old. One has been used for 1 analysis jost of its lifetime. The other 2 have been used for various analytical tasks and are now each dedicated to 1 of 2 new methods developed in my lab in the last 3 weeks. I offer the following advice;
[1]Clean your columns immediately after AND IMMEDIATELY BEFORE using them.
[2]If you are not interested in seeing a sample component with your detector, do not inject it into your system, USE SAMPLE PREPARATION TECHNIQUES TO CLEAN UP YOUR SAMPLES.
[3]Using an ion pairing agent changes the stationary phase forever, so restrict use of any column that has been exposed to an ion pairing agent to methods that employ that particular ion pairing agent ONLY.
[4]Do not trust HPLC grade chemicals. Vacuum filter, degas all eluents prior to use even HPLC grade solvents, water, acetonitrile methanol, etc. and even if using remnants of previously prepared eluent. I was the only one that used a batch of contaminated Caledon HPLC acetonitrile without loosing any columns. The supplier replaced the bad solvent but did not replace anyone damaged columns.
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