The US manufacturer ZirChrom produces an extensive range of zirconia-based materials for HPLC. The special feature of zirconia is its chemical stability over the entire pH range of 1-14 as well as its thermal stability. The extreme stability of zirconia and its unique chromatographic selectivity allow optimization of separation conditions that are incompatible with other types of supports.
Just like with more traditional HPLC supports, a wide variety of analyses can be performed, including amino acids, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), carbohydrates, pesticides, environmental samples, clinical samples, and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. Zirconia-based carriers impress with their long lifetime and significant cost savings due to faster, more selective separations.