HPLC defined and explained

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is a technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify and quantify each component in a mixture. It is one of the most widely used techniques in instrumental analysis and is also commonly used for sample preparation in the laboratory.

HPLC is particularly suitable for analyzing substances that are not so volatile or non-volatile, ionic, thermally unstable, easily broken down as well as substances with a high polarity and a high molecular weight.

Several key components must be considered in order to determine an appropriate separation method: the type of column, the composition, temperature, pH value of the mobile phase and also the type of substances to be separated. The use of HPLC is so diverse that there more than 60,000 different HPLC columns available on the market. An HPLC device consists of a solvent reservoir, HPLC pump(s), mixing chamber, sample injector, column, detector and waste container .