There is no exact equivalent for Primesep columns as far as we know. It is not a physical mixture of ion-exchange and reverse phase phases as everybody stated. Primesep100 has an alkyl chain containing an acidic fragment with pKa of 1. The column mimics reverse phase RP chromatography with ion-pairing reagent in the mobile phase, but does not require an ion-pairing reagent and can be used with a typical RP mobile phases.
Duet column is just a mechanical combination of two phases in a single tube. For any isocratic application Duet column is not different from any serially connected IE and RP columns. Maybe it is just little more convenient. Primesep columns are different from Duet in several aspects.
On the manufacturing end:
Columns contain only one type of packing material so they are easy to pack to obtain high efficiency and peak symmetry.
Both functional groups, ion-exchange and RP, are part of a single molecule bonded to silica gel, so it is easy to maintain exact ratio of IE vs. RP.
Strong IE functional group completely masks silanol interaction which makes Primesep columns independent of silica source as long as it is the same surface area and pore size.
On the user end:
Strong IE functional groups within RP layer attract water and make the column resistant to dewetting. The column can be used in 100% aqueous or pure organic.
Polar groups make a single column applicable for normal phase chromatography, SFC, and HILIC and RP mode.
http://sielc.com/Technology_Versatility.html
The column has IE properties and can be used as traditional IE columns (see many examples on our web site).
http://sielc.com/Technology_Alternative ... raphy.html for example.
It is all in addition to main advantage of this column which is unlimited and well controlled retention of polar compounds.
http://sielc.com/Technology_RetentionOf ... ounds.html
You can benefit from multiple interactions on Primesep column:
http://www.sielc.com/Technology_2D_Properties.html
Of course, any Primesep column can be used as general RP column for any traditional RP application.
I don’t think there is a real alternative for this column, but if you are just doing a RP separation of neutral molecule, you can do it on any RP column (Waters, Phenomenex, Supelco); if you’re doing IE, you can find many IE materials (Dionex); normal phase can be done on silica gel or any other NP column; you can find many AQ type columns; but if you need a single column which can be used for multiple types of interactions, you may have a hard time finding an exact Primesep equivalent.
We have bunch of Method Development tools which might help in column and mobile phase selection:
http://www.sielc.com/Request_Literature.html
Sorry for the lengthy message
Regards,
Vlad
P.S. Our columns are available in India. I am not sure that P. V. S. Prasad has any of our columns.