-
- Posts: 762
- Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:54 am
So, theoretically, as instrumentation tends towards being able to handle higher pressures (which should negate the issue of longer columns w/ small particles creating said high pressure), and as the ability to efficiently and routinely pack these columns becomes common knowledge, will this eventually become the norm? In 10 years, will a 1500-2500-bar LC running 150-mm columns packed with sub 2-micron columns be commonplace? Or will we head toward a different direction, like SFC or temperature-based liquid chromatography (as offered by the Selerity company, http://www.selerity.com/main/main_products_hplc.html - granted, higher temp = lower pressure, so you'd have to run faster flow rates to keep the pressure high) if the practical pressure limits of running silica-based columns at normal temperatures and flow rates will be soon reached? Also, at what point might you "destroy" a silica particle, by pressure alone, and how small can silica particles actually get? Or are we heading toward nanoparticles???
Also, Uwe, while I would love to have an H-class Acquity with the fancy S-Fusion method development software, I work in one of those labs where the budget and the need are both not there. I think for most of us out there the novelty of sub-2 micron is just that - a novelty. Until the cost of the instrument gets below 100k (Agilent 1290, but I would bet an Acquity is close), most of us won't be able to consider the sub-2 um columns, even at a comparable cost to 2.7 or 3 or 3.5 um columns. Hence my asking about the Kinetex columns, and Bryan offering the 3-um columns - they are a bridge between the dreams and realities of everyday chromatographers. I think, with an Agilent 1200SL, I could hit pressures high enough to utilize the Kinetex columns effectively, or any 3-3.5 micron column.
The crux of this thread, of course, is a bit of theory mixed with hopes/dreams, and also an inquiry into the trends of a field I think I'll be in for another few decades. Heck, maybe 3-um will be the new 5-um, and no one will even think of using 5 micron, and scaling down to a "tried and true" sub 2-micron will be a piece of cake. That'll be the day!
Also, Uwe, while I would love to have an H-class Acquity with the fancy S-Fusion method development software, I work in one of those labs where the budget and the need are both not there. I think for most of us out there the novelty of sub-2 micron is just that - a novelty. Until the cost of the instrument gets below 100k (Agilent 1290, but I would bet an Acquity is close), most of us won't be able to consider the sub-2 um columns, even at a comparable cost to 2.7 or 3 or 3.5 um columns. Hence my asking about the Kinetex columns, and Bryan offering the 3-um columns - they are a bridge between the dreams and realities of everyday chromatographers. I think, with an Agilent 1200SL, I could hit pressures high enough to utilize the Kinetex columns effectively, or any 3-3.5 micron column.
The crux of this thread, of course, is a bit of theory mixed with hopes/dreams, and also an inquiry into the trends of a field I think I'll be in for another few decades. Heck, maybe 3-um will be the new 5-um, and no one will even think of using 5 micron, and scaling down to a "tried and true" sub 2-micron will be a piece of cake. That'll be the day!
