CHOOSING SAMPLE VOLUME TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM DETECTION SENSITIVITY AND RESOLUTION WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY COLUMNS OF 1.0, 2.1 AND 4.6 MM ID

The relationship between sample volume and the chromatographic perform ance factors of detection sensitivity and resolution were explored for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) columns of 1.0, 2.1 and 4.6 mm I.D. Performance was evaluated for isocratic and gradient elut ion in systems having low, intermediate and high extracolumn a dispers ion. Sample volumes ranged from 0.4 mu l to 2 ml. This paper provides guidelines for selecting sample injection parameters so that the perfo rmance of microbore columns is not needlessly sacrificed by using too small or too large a sample volume. The guidelines are extracted from the works of others and are modified by our own experimental results. Comments are also made on the relative merits of various injection tec hniques.