Mobile Phase Modifiers
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is one of the most common instrumental techniques for analyzing mixtures of organic compounds in laboratories around the world. HPLC depends on each molecule’s ability to interact with the mobile phase that carries it through the column, the solid phase that fills the column, and the interactions between molecules in the sample.
These interactions are particularly important in LC/MS when molecules require ionizable functionality. Many laboratories now use reverse-phase high performance chromatography (RP-HPLC), where the stationary phase is hydrophobic or nonpolar. However, reverse-phase columns may contain open silanol groups, which can interact with polar molecules, leading to reduced resolution, peak tailing, and shortened column life.
The addition of modifiers, such as trifluoroacetic, acetic, and formic acid, and the corresponding ammonium salts, is widely used to improve the quality of RP-HPLC chromatography analyses. These modifiers adjust the pH of the mobile phase and give chemists greater control over the ionization level of each molecule.
Modifiers can form ion pairs with Lewis-basic and Lewis-acidic sites on solvent-accessible regions of the stationary phase. This decreases the likelihood of analyte interaction with these regions and results in increased column longevity and performance.
- Conveniently packaged for error-free use
- Designed to be directly added to mobile phase reservoirs for easy use
- Ability to mix and match modifiers to create personalized method development kits