SOFTWARE FOR IMPROVED USE OF THE COLUMN IN HPLC

用于高效液相色谱（HPLC）的烷基硅柱（如C8、C18）的制造商目前无法保证不同生产批次的名义上相等的柱填料将提供相同的保留和分离不同的样品。这反过来又会在开发和/或使用HPLC方法期间导致许多相关问题。我们建议开发的软件（RP-COLUMN）将(a)通过一种或多种分离条件（如温度、pH等）的可预测变化，使柱保留差异最小化，(b)在使用过程中纠正柱的变化，(c)促进实验室之间的方法转移，(d)允许更可靠地复制文献中的HPLC程序，(e)诊断和纠正由于实验条件选择错误而导致的问题（故障排除）。(f)提高先前开发的程序的分辨率和鲁棒性，(g)允许用户根据其选择性表征任何反相柱，(h)为不同类型和来源的柱的选择性特性提供数据库，(i)选择分离条件，以便在给定程序（HPLC法）中使用完全不同的柱时能够充分发挥作用。这九种RP- COLUMN的应用分别代表了在HPLC程序的开发或使用中一个重要问题的解决方案。应用（a-f）是基于这样一个事实，即保留作为几个变量（条件）同时变化的函数可以在少量实验的基础上预测。应用程序(g)和(h)需要对反相HPLC的保留过程有更深入的了解，而应用程序(i)以完全不同的方式解决柱变异性的问题。建议的商业应用：建议的产品RP-COLUMN将被视为几乎每个进行HPLC分析的实验室的重要补充。HPLC设备的制造商可能希望将该软件的功能整合到他们自己的数据系统和系统控制器中。我们预计初始销售额为每年2-5百万美元。

Manufacturers of alkyl-silica columns (e.g., C8, C18) for high- performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are currently unable to guarantee that different production batches of nominally equivalent column packing will provide the same retention and separation of different samples. This in turn can lead to a number of related problems during the development and/or use of an HPLC method. Software (RP-COLUMN) that we propose to develop will (a) allow differences in column retention to be minimized by a predictable change in one or more separation conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, etc.), (b) correct for changes in the column during use, (c) facilitate method transfer between laboratories, (d) allow the more reliable duplication of HPLC procedures from the literature, (e) diagnose and correct problems due to error in the selection of experimental conditions (troubleshooting), (f) improve the resolution and robustness of a previously developed procedure, (g) allow the user to characterize any reversed-phase column in terms of its selectivity, (h) provide a data base for the selectivity characteristics of columns of different type and source and (i) select separation conditions such that quite different columns will perform adequately when used with a given procedure (HPLC method). These proposed nine applications of RP- COLUMN each represent a solution to a significant problem in the development or use of HPLC procedures. Applications (a-f) are based on the fact that retention as a function of simultaneous change in several variables (conditions) can be predicted on the basis of a small number of experiments. Applications (g) and (h) require an expanded insight into the retention process for reversed-phase HPLC, while application (i) addresses the problem of column variability in an entirely different fashion. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The proposed product RP-COLUMN will be regarded as an important addition to virtually every laboratory carrying out HPLC analysis. Manufacturers of HPLC equipment will probably want to incorporate the features of this software into their own data systems and system controllers. We expect initial sale-of $2-5 MM/year.