Chromatography Forum

I just started at a new company, and am going to be developing methods for EPA pesticide formulations. Most of these methods will be on GC, and I have already gotten started there. The question I have is for HPLC analysis. I will be using an HP1100 system with a DAD detector, and was wondering what column(s) i shoudl look into ordering.

I was forwarded a method using a "uBondpack" C18 4mm x 30 cm column with no mention of particle size. I have used GC for PCB analysis and NIOSH methods 1501 and 5515 in previous work, and my HPLC experience has been in pharma with CNS drugs. I am mostly looking for a class of pesticides know as pyrethroids.

Any available methods would also be helpful. My GC is an agilent 7890 with FID.

First Post,
Sam

Microbondapak was 10-micron. That is 40-year-old technology. The majority of HPLC columns use C18 bonded phase. The catch is that, unlike in GC, there is a tremendous range of selectivity differences among columns with the "same"
bonded phase. That means that a method that was developed and validated on a microBondapak C18 will probably not run (without modification) on a Zorbax StableBond C18 or on an ACE-5 C18 or on . . .

If you will be developing and validating your own methods, start with the "latest and greatest" from your column vendor of choice. C18 and C8 columns are the most widely used and are the general starting point.

I agree with Tom, Bondapak is decades-old news. I'd start with 3 micron or so C18, something like Zorbax Extend-C18 50mm length. We do pesticide assays here, including in-house developed and validated assays for our GLP products.

The Ace columns worked well for me for natural pyrethrins and synthetic pyrethroids at the company I recently quit. I used C8, C18, C18HL, Phenyl, and C18AR, depending on the active ingredient and sample matrix. They also seemed to last a fairly long time in the production lab.