Application-dedicated HPLC columns have longer lifetimes
Prolong the useful lifetimes of your HPLC columns by dedicating specific columns to specific applications, like analysts who use ion pair reagents often do. Sample components, mobile phase conditions, etc. can cause changes within a column, and sometimes effects of these changes are negligible until the column is used in another application. Although this practice can involve using more columns at one time, and calls for careful bookkeeping, longer lifetimes for individual columns can amount to significant savings.
Avoid the Void Volume
A speedy analysis is important, but avoid the temptation to elute important sample components near the void volume of your column. When you ignore this guideline, you are locked into using the mobile phase as the sample solvent; any admixing of sample solvent and mobile phase causes a baseline disturbance that makes quantification highly unreliable. Also, it is highly likely that the peak at the void volume will soar off-scale. You will avoid these and other potential problems by adjusting conditions such that the first target compound elutes with a capacity factor (k′) of at least 2.0.
