6533b836fe1ef96bd12a11df

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Solvent Selection in Liquid Chromatography

subject

description

Abstract Many solvents can be used to prepare mobile phases in liquid chromatography. Also, mixtures of solvents at different ratios are used to modify the mobile phase properties. This can make solvent selection for method development a hard task, unless suitable guidelines are followed. This chapter summarizes the most common strategies used by skilled chromatographists in reversed-phase, normal-phase, and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. These are based on considerations about the global polarity of solutes, stationary phase and mobile phase, which determine the elution strength, and on the particular profile of the contributions of intermolecular interactions to the global polarity, which determines the selectivity. The optimization of selectivity using isoeluotropic mixtures on the rational basis provided by solvent selectivity triangles and systematic trial-and-error procedures in the isocratic and gradient elution modes is described. Additional considerations for mobile-phase selection, including computer-assisted interpretive optimization, sustainability criteria, and the use of high temperatures, are also commented.