Trends in HPLC - Wide pH-range columns and capillary columns

The topic covers the current trends in HPLC column development to robust co lumns that extend the usable pH-range. Examples are given on how intelligen t surface chemistry enables silica-based materials to be used in the pH-ran ge 1 to 11. The resulting packing materials combine the extreme mechanically stability of silica with an excellent chemical stability. Especially in the LC-MS com munity high pH-applications are becoming more popular, because of the probl ems that ion-pair reagents cause with this detection technique. The life-science arena with small sample amounts demands smaller id columns i.e. capillary columns. Capillary-HPLC instruments are now commercially av ailable and the presentation will shed some light on various capillary colu mn applications.