Multidimensional liquid chromatography for sample characterisation.
While LC finds enormously widespread use in almost all areas of chemical science, the technique is limited as a means of identification because compounds do not elute with unique retention times. This limitation spurred the growth of hyphenated instrumental methods of analysis, such as LC-MS/MS, which because of the MS/ MS detection became a method of identification. However, techniques like LC-MS/ MS are specialised and require high initial purchase and running costs, inhibiting the more widespread growth of the technique. In an attempt to increase the separation power of LC, multi-dimensional LC was developed. This expanded the separation space and subsequently has allowed the development of methods with fingerprinting ability due to the lower probability of component overlap. The work in this study illustrates the application of 2-D LC as a means of chemical fingerprinting. We employed a sample base of various low molecular weight oligostyrenes and their diastereomers that represent a population of compounds whose selectivities in a one-dimensional separation are almost unity and hence essentially impossible to separate. Yet in a 2-D domain almost all individual components occupy unique 2-D retention times.
Toups
E Peter
EP
Nanoscale Organisation and Dynamics Group, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta, NSW, Australia.
Gray
Michael J
MJ
Dennis
Gary R
GR
Reddy
Narsimha
N
Wilson
Michael A
MA
Shalliker
R Andrew
RA