High performance:

High performance (or pressure) liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a type of liquid- liquid chromatography (LLC) where a narrow width (2-5 mm diameter) and about 50 cm long column is packed with ultrafine material (5-10 µm) so as to increase its surface area. It is used for the separation/analysis of a variety of solutes from a complex mixture in small amounts. Its various modes such as adsorption, partition (or bonded phase), reverse phase, exclusion, ion-exchange and ion chromatography are described with respect to stationary phase packing materials.

In addition, solvent delivery system including reservoir, pumps and characteristics of mobile phase and various types of detectors are briefly described. Optimization procedure is described with typical examples. Various interfaces of HPLC with mass spectrometry are also described. A comparison is made between gas chromatography (GC) and HPLC especially with regard to the types of solutes analyzed and instrumentation. Further, its advantages and some typical applications in various modes including typical cases of drug abuse, additives in canned fruit juice, chiral separation, and separation of amino acids, nucleic acids, cations and anions and isomers are explained.