Current and Future Chromatographic Columns: Is One Column Enough to Rule Them All?

The vast majority of separations in liquid chromatography (LC) still use the typical packed particle bed format, most commonly with fully or superficially porous particles in particle sizes as low as 1.3 mu m. As an alternative, monolithic columns have been the topic of many studies, but they are currently used only in some niche applications. Research into perfectly ordered microfabricated columns has shown tremendous possibility for these high performance columns for use in nano-LC, but their development is still ongoing. The possibilities that emerging three-dimensional (3D) printing technology offers make it theoretically possible to develop any imaginable structure with high precision, but the technology is currently limited. This article provides a critical review of all these technologies and demonstrates how further development of chromatographic columns will be of paramount importance in the future.

Publication year:2018

Keywords:Performance Liquid-Chromatography, Pillar Array Columns, Monolithic Capillary Columns, Particle-Size Distribution, Fully Porous Particles, Reversed-Phase Chromatography, Radially Elongated Pillars, Core-Shell Particles, Sol-Gel System, High-Efficiency

Accessibility:Open