Chromatography Forum

Good morning,

I am evaluating a new HPLC for performing analytical and semi-prep work. I'm trying to decide if it is worth the money to have a thermostated autosampler and fraction collector. Our lab is new and we get projects from many different sources so I don't have much past experience of my own. Does any one else find that they really need to have the autosampler and/or fraction collector refrigerated? If so, what applications is this most important for?

Thanks,

KarenJ

Depends on the probability of getting unstable samples. Higher if you deal with biological fluids, proteins, etc.

Given Murphy's law, I can virtually guarantee that if you get a temp-controlled unit, you will never need it, and if you get an uncontrolled unit, you will get samples that need a refrigerated unit.

You want refrigeration if your samples are not stable at room temperature. Amino acid analysis of biological samples (urine, plasma, etc) is one classic example. Also, some pharmaceutical procedures have time-temperature limits on prepared samples.

If you plan to use automated pre-column derivatization, you should have temperature control if you want the best reproducibility.

If you expect to run very long sample sets and evaporation is a concern, refrigeration is helpful.

Mostly you don't need temperature control for work that will be completed in a few hours.