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Handbook of Size Exclusion Chromatography and Related ...

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2.3 Particle Morphology<br />

As mentioned, reducing particle size was crucial in making liquid chromatography<br />

a high-performance technique. Early in the development <strong>of</strong> HPLC, small silica<br />

particles were obtained by grinding <strong>and</strong> sieving larger silica gels used in the<br />

purification <strong>of</strong> natural products by open-column liquid chromatography. Once the<br />

potential <strong>of</strong> “high-pressure” LC had been demonstrated (41,42), columns packed<br />

with 10-mm irregularly shaped silica became readily available. Although such<br />

particles are still widely used in routine analyses, most analyses <strong>and</strong> column<br />

development work in academia <strong>and</strong> industry is performed with spherical 5-mm<br />

particles. In recent years, 5-mm particles have become widely available for gel<br />

filtration <strong>of</strong> proteins. The use <strong>of</strong> even smaller particle sizes in SEC has been<br />

advocated by Guiochon <strong>and</strong> Martin (36) <strong>and</strong> Engelhardt <strong>and</strong> Ahr (43), who<br />

investigated the optimum particle size for analysing proteins.<br />

One <strong>of</strong> the main advantages <strong>of</strong> a column packed with spherical particles is<br />

that the pressure drop is lower by as much as a factor <strong>of</strong> 2 compared with a column<br />

packed with irregular particles <strong>of</strong> the same average size. Also, although the<br />

hardness <strong>of</strong> silica depends mainly on the size <strong>of</strong> the pores together with the pore<br />

volume per particle, there is some evidence for the widely held belief that irregular<br />

particles are more prone to breakage during the column-packing process (44). It is<br />

also considered more difficult to prepare a well-packed column with irregular<br />

particles (45). Particle shape does not influence the kinetic <strong>and</strong> thermodynamic<br />

properties that describe the chromatographic process.<br />

The relationship between particle size <strong>and</strong> column efficiency is now well<br />

understood, although the exact form <strong>of</strong> the equations, including the Knox equation<br />

[see Eq. (3)], is still debated (46). The 3–5 mm particle size <strong>of</strong> modern HPLC<br />

columns allows fast analysis <strong>of</strong> small molecular weight compounds at near optimal<br />

column efficiency. As discussed, larger molecular weight compounds, because <strong>of</strong><br />

their smaller diffusion coefficients, require much lower flow rates to elute with<br />

maximum column efficiency. Because <strong>of</strong> the usual variation in polymer molecular<br />

weight, it is not possible to operate the column at the optimal speed for all<br />

components in the sample.<br />

2.4 Column Dimensions<br />

A common internal diameter for an SEC column is 7.5 or 7.8 mm vs. 4.6 mm for<br />

non-SEC columns. The length <strong>of</strong> an SEC column has traditionally been 30 cm, but<br />

60-cm columns have also been available for 10-mmm packings. Initial packing<br />

studies showing higher efficiencies for larger bore columns contributed to the<br />

choice <strong>of</strong> 7–8 mm as the internal diameter for most high-performance SEC<br />

columns (47,48). Advantages <strong>of</strong> such larger ID columns are (1) a reduction <strong>of</strong> the<br />

importance <strong>of</strong> extra column contributions to the volume <strong>of</strong> the sample b<strong>and</strong>,<br />

(2) increased sample capacity for preparative purposes, <strong>and</strong> (3) the ability to<br />

© 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.

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