Chromatography courses

Introduction to HPLC/UHPLC

A one-day course on the fundamentals of liquid chromatography including:

  • Polarity, solubility, hydrogen bonding and pKa
  • Chromatographic theory
  • Retention mechanisms
  • Instrumentation:
    • Degassers
    • Pumps
    • Column ovens
    • Detectors
  • Mobile and stationary phases
  • Ion suppression and ion pairing
  • Practical exercises:
  • Mobile phase preparation
  • Column connection
  • System equilibration and wellness

HPLC/UHPLC Maintenance and Troubleshooting

A one-day course on maintaining and troubleshooting liquid chromatography systems including:

  • Revision of chromatographic theory
  • Peak characterisation: width, symmetry, height
  • System suitability parameters
  • Data from method development and validation studies as predictors of method performance
  • Problems caused by:
    • Mobile phase
    • Column
    • Sample/standard preparation
    • Pump
    • Injector
    • Detector & data system
  • Essential tools
  • Monitoring system performance
  • Preventative maintenance
  • Practical exercises:
    • Revision of topics in the introductory course, plus:
    • Sample filtration
    • Priming a dry pump (e.g. after maintenance)
    • Diagnosing leaks, blockages and pressure fluctuations

HPLC/UHPLC Method Development

A two-day course on method development for liquid chromatography including:

  • Revision of chromatographic theory
  • Nature of the analyte(s):
    • Polarity/solubility
    • Functionality
    • Detectability
    • Stability
  • Nature of the matrix:
    • Analyte concentration
    • Ease of extraction
    • Chromatographic interference
  • Method requirements for accuracy, precision and sensitivity
  • Sample preparation approaches
  • Developing the separation
    • Selection of initial conditions
    • Sample concentration and injection volume
    • Isocratic and gradient elution
    • Optimising linearity, sensitivity, selectivity and resolution
    • Strategies for ionic and non-ionic analytes
    • Chiral separations
    • Detector considerations
  • Biochemical separations
  • Method validation and transfer
  • Practical exercises:
    • Trainees will develop two separations: the first will be for a binary mixture containing a polar molecule and a non-polar species; the second will be for a ternary mixture containing ionic and non-ionic analytes.

Introduction to Ion Chromatography

A one-day course on the fundamentals of ion chromatography including:

  • Chromatographic theory
  • Retention mechanisms in ion chromatography
  • Instrumentation:
    • Degassers
    • Pumps
    • Column ovens
    • Detectors (UV, electrochemical and conductivity)
  • Mobile and stationary phases
  • Suppression of background conductivity
  • Practical exercises:
    • Mobile phase preparation
    • Column connection
    • System equilibration and wellness

Introduction to LC-MS

A one-day course on the fundamentals of LC-MS including:

  • Chromatographic theory
  • LC-MS system components
    • Ion sources
    • Vacuum system
    • Ion optics
    • Types and characteristics of mass analysers
    • Ion detector types
  • Mobile phase considerations and limitations
  • Tuning and calibration
  • Maintenance
  • Qualitative and quantitative analysis
  • Practical exercises:
    • Ion source cleaning
    • Tuning and calibration
    • Optimisation of ion source conditions