High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

Introduction

HPLC is an analytical technique for the separation, identification and quantification of solutes in a solvent.

Principle

Differences in the relative affinities of molecules for the mobile phase and the stationary phase separate a sample into its constituents. The eluent can be a single solvent (isocratic) or a mixture with changing composition (gradient). There are three main operational modes: normal phase - based on polarity; reversed phase - based on hydrophobic interactions and ion exchange - based on electrostatic interactions.

Applications

• Identification and quantification and of solutes and components.
• Micropollutant detection
• Membrane performance evaluation

Each component is associated with a peak characteristic retention time. The concentration is proportional to the integrated peak area.