Reproducible automated renewable column generation

Abstract

Preparation of chromatographic columns requires considerable time during chemical separation procedures. Automated systems capable of repeatedly generating renewable, uniformly packed columns would find widespread use in analytical laboratories. Here, a fully automated commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system was utilized to pack and unpack 1 mL TEVA and UTEVA columns. To accurately determine the reproducibility of the resin load per column, studies were conducted over several weeks. Method optimization yielded an improvement in loading from 15–19% to 3–5% relative standard deviation. Availability of automated COTS equipment capable of reproducibly generating separation columns has the potential to reduce time and costs associated with column separation.