Question Re: CofA provided with HPLC Column

[Wayne Way]

From a HPLC vendor perspective, wondering which of the following options is preferred by most end users.

a) Do not include CofA, save paper, I don't use it and if I need it I will contact vendor for a copy.

b) Keep providing CofA as they are. I need them and store them for quality (or other) purposes.

c) CofA s from vendors do not provide enough information, I would like to receive the CofA with more information regarding the column.

any feedback is useful, not only to me, but probably other vendors as well.

Thanks,

Wayne

[LC_labrat]

I would choose option A. I rarely look at the chromatogram. However the shipping solvent is important which is also on the CofA.

[Bruce Hamilton]

Option B for me. Extracting CoAs from vendors is often more difficult than finding hens teeth.

I have CoAs for all my current columns in use - dating back to 1986. The CoA test, rather than a specific method test, is often used by me to define when a column has totally died and discarded.

Recently, I got rid of my last u-Bondapak columns in the nice wooden boxes, along with all the "pack your own" guard columns in the smaller wooden boxes.

To me, a functioning column is a potential resource, it's not a process consumable, but for many others, especially in biomedical, process control, and QC labs that's all the column is.

Bruce Hamilton

[HW Mueller]

Clearly c) for me, one can never get enough info about a column. Wish this would not be called CofA or especially CoA, though

[DR]

B) for me too, I have a several inch thick stack of column test chromatograms in a set of wire binders. If I already have a copy of the other materials sent along w/ a given column (general care & feeding stuff, CDs etc.), I toss that.

[Uwe Neue]

Since we are at the subject, may I ask a few additional questions about the information content:
Are you just interested
1. in a column test chromatogram (plate count test)
or are you also interested
2. in details of the characterization of the packing (carbon content, particle size, batch test etc.)?

[juddc]

I want option D.

Forget the paper, just have all of the information - methods, test results packing details, etc - in a downloadable pdf file that can be easily found on the manufacturer's website.

I like the way Sigma-Aldrich does it for chemicals. On the page for the product in question, there's a place to enter lot #'s in order to obtain C's of A.

If I want a paper copy, I'll print one.

This way it would be easy to store the C's of A on any computer that is running an instrument upon which the column is installed and anywhere else it may be needed.

[HW Mueller]

In line with what I answered before: For Uwe´s question it´s 1. and 2. for me.

[DR]

In line with what I answered before: For Uwe´s question it´s 1. and 2. for me.

Me too - having some S.A., Carbon content and pore size information makes finding suitable alternatives easier, and there have been times where short lived or unsuitable columns had some differences in initial plate counts, retention times etc. from their relatives from different batches (rare, but it happens).

[Bruce Hamilton]

Are you just interested
1. in a column test chromatogram (plate count test)
or are you also interested
2. in details of the characterization of the packing (carbon content, particle size, batch test etc.)?

I'm interested in the chromatogram test values, and the specifications for those values, for the QC chromatograms - such as plate count, selectivity, asymmetry calculations.

I also want sufficient detail that I can replicate the chromatographic run - accepting that my system will give different results. Not many of my CoA give specification values ( Agilent does ).

I also want the substrate and bonded phase batch characterisations and associated chromatograms and specifications.

Waters and Phenomenex provide them, with the Phenomenex report of substrate and bonded phase batch characterisation is especially comprehensive, with significant interpretation and methodology explanations on the back.

Given that I'm getting a box containing a column, I'd like to have hard copies in the box. I don't want to print out pdfs.

Also if possible, I'd like the option of paying a few dollars for the relevant test mix, recognising that there are various DG transport rules that caused the demise of this practice..

If the shipping regulations are real hassle, the column manufacturers could get some of the chemical standards providers to offer them, then they could be included in other hazardous chemical orders.

Please keep having fun,

Bruce Hamilton