experience and performance of 3 μm and sub 3- μm SEC column

[rick1112]

Hi

Recently all major brands have come out with 3 μm and sub 3- μm SEC column, such as Phenomenex Yarra SEC-3000 3 μm, Acquity UPLC BEH200 SEC 1.7 μm, TSKgel UltraSW Aggregate 3 μm, and TSKgel Super. SW mAb HR 4 μm. Do anyone have experience on any of these column? Any idea of there performance?


thanks

[Gerhard Kratz]

If you decrease the particle size you will increase resolution. If you decrease the ID of the column, you will increase mass sensitivity.
Large pores in small particles are a challenge for the polymerization process of the silica.
Biggest issue is that you need to have a dedicated SEC system for such columns.
If your standard SEC runs on a 7,8mmID x 30cmL column with standard tubing ID and length, standard flow cell in your detector, you will not be happy with these new columns.
But if you can optimize the system you will see the big advantage of these new SEC columns. OK, not all separations will be better on such columns. But this is live.
Good luck.

[rick1112]

hi

These column have std. dimension of 7,8mmID x 30cmL and are mainly projected to have better performance compared to routinely used 5 μm particles SEC columns, especially for proteins

From usage experience, I was wondering how much significant improvement in performance is practically obtained?

[Gerhard Kratz]

If you compare a TSKgel G3000SWXL 5µm with a TSKgel SuperSW3000 4µm the advantage is 50% more selectivity, if your SEC system is optimized.
To run a sub 2µm particle size SEC column with the standard dimensions of 7,8 x 30 - I'm not sure about the live time and back pressure.