A comparison of 2 micron inner diameter open tubular column liquid chromatography with pressure-driven isocratic, slip-flow, and electrochromatographic modes of operation: a theoretical study

Modifications to the flow profile used in open tube capillary liquid chromatography (OT-CLC) include using slip-flow walls and using electroosmosis as a fluid pump as practiced in electrochromatography. These modifications are implemented experimentally by changing the capillary surface and solvent conditions which results in the change of boundary conditions at the capillary wall. In this paper we employ a theory-based study and compare the zone broadening of simple solutes using parabolic flow from a liquid pump, slip-flow from a highly hydrophobic inner surface with water eluent, and electroosmosis for the conditions of pure water and dilute salt utilizing 2 pm inner diameter OT capillaries. In general, the two types of flow other than parabolic exhibit thin zones in the early part of the chromatogram, consistent with previous studies of slip-flow and electroosmotic flow used in electrochromatography. Electrochromatography is shown to yield higher efficiency and less zone broadening than parabolic and slip-flow conditions used in this study. Nonetheless, it is found that the zone standard deviations are shown to be similar for these flow profiles as is the number of plates for these different flow profiles under the conditions utilized here. It is revealed that these modifications do not warrant the effort to maintain the special solvent conditions when compared to gradient elution OT-CLC, which gives a nearly constant peak width throughout the chromatogram, is easiest to implement, and is the method of choice for complex analysis. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigates modifications to flow profiles in open tube capillary liquid chromatography, showing electrochromatography to be more efficient with less zone broadening compared to parabolic and slip-flow conditions. However, under the experimental conditions, the zone standard deviations and number of plates are similar for the different flow profiles. Therefore, it is concluded that maintaining special solvent conditions for these modifications may not be worthwhile compared to gradient elution in OT-CLC.