Chromatography Forum

Dear people,

My name is Gilberto and I am a Msc. student from Federal University of Parana - Brazil.

I have a HPLC Kromasil column (model: Kromasil 100-5C18, S.N. E33906). I am having trouble coupling the pre-column and the Kromasil column. The problem seems to be the cap that is clogged into screw column.

What could I can do to solve this problem? How could I unclogged?

With best regards,

Gilberto

Hi Gilberto

Welcome to the forum.

If I understand correctly you have a piece of a plastic plug stuck into the screw thread at the end of the column ?

There are some things that you can try;

1. pressurize the column from the other end with a liquid that is compatible with the packing (say 10% methanol in water) and hope that it pushes the plug out.

2. Carefully drill a hole into the plastic with a drill that is small enough not to dmage the threads of the column. Then take a very thin, pointed screw (preferably brass to protect the threads) and screw it into the hole. Then pull on the screw.

3. Put the end of the column into liquid nitrogen to shrink the plastic, then drop the column, plugged end down onto a hard surface. The plastic might fall out.

1 is the easiest, 2 is the most certain, 3 is for if nothing else works.

Peter

I've used an x-acto knife to remove broken peek fittings from a column.