Advances in the Application of High Resolution Liquid Chromatography to the Separation of Complex Biological Mixtures

Automated, high resolution analytical systems using LC separations have found extensive application in clinical and biomedical research laboratories as well as in environmental studies. The most highly developed systems use high-pressure ion exchange chromatography to separate a whole family of biochemicals, including UV-absorbing compounds, carbohydrates, organic acids, amino acids, and others. Several hundred molecular constituents can be separated and quantified by effective combination of these systems. Recent advances include: a) multicolumn operation to increase sample throughput, increase resolution, and decrease the time required for separation; and b) the use of new detection systems for monitoring column eluates.