Why SEC column go

[rick1112]

Hi

Why do SEC column go “badâ€

[HW Mueller]

The silica SEC columns come with a surface modification which may react. Of course the silica itself can react and thus change. Then accumulation of "dirt" can cause surface changes or plugging. I don´t see so much diffrence to columns used for adsorption chromatography.

[drichard]

I'm sure part of the reason lifetime may vary depends on what the actual packing material is made of. Silica packing may fail for different reasons compared to cross-linked styrene-divinyl benzene packing. I've been using a cross-linked polymer column for SEC analysis for about 3 years now, and its still kicking.

The swelling and shrinking of the cross-linked polymer packing in various solvents over time may possibly cause unwanted flow channels within the packing material. Thats my opinion, though I may be wrong.

[MineSweeper]

If you use the SEC column for the seperation of biological sample, you would find the column would quite fast get dirty .

[dkreller]

Hi,

A few years ago I was using an inline carbon analyzer as one of my detectors for SEC. At first I tried to use a Waters SEC column but it was apparently bleeding carbon steadily, and creating a high and unstable baseline in the carbon detector. However, I switched to a Tosoh Biosciences TSK column and it has undetectable bleed. Some columns are more stable than others.....

Dave