Enhancing Sensitivities and Peak Capacities for UHPLC-MS Fast Gradient Analyses

Introduction

When compared to 1.7 μm fully porous materials, the ultra-high efficiency and low backpressures provided by Kinetex core-shell 2.6 μm columns, provides users opportunities to go beyond what is traditionally accepted for UHPLC runs. To match backpressures exerted by 1.7 μm fully porous columns, large increases in coreshell column length and/or system flow rate is required. When Gradient conditions are maintained, increases in flow rate and length result in an increase in peak capacity on the order of 26 %. When MS conditions are optimized to compensate for new flow rates, sensitivity increases of up to 3.5 times are observed and furthermore, peak capacity figures increase by almost 70 %.

The introduction of Kinetex core-shell columns has brought dramatic benefits to chromatographers. The high efficiency shown from the 2.6 μm core-shell particle has allowed users to run ultrahigh performance separations on HPLC and UHPLC systems alike. Moreover, the larger particle size of the Kinetex 2.6 μm material compared to 1.7 μm fully porous particles significantly reduces backpressures by a factor of ~40 %. This decrease in backpressure provides users an opportunity to exploit flow rates and/or column lengths to allow for faster UHPLC run times, higher peak capacities, and improvements in peak sensitivities.