Advanced Stationary Phases for HPLC

The preparation and characterisation of new stationary phases remain one of the most challenging and intensively developing research areas in chromatographic sciences. There are two main areas in adsorbent development: surface chemistry and adsorbent geometry. Chemical properties of adsorbent surface are the main factors that define chromatographic selectivity and adsorbent geometry (particle size and porosity type) which are also the key elements that define column efficiency. These combined factors determine overall chromatographic performance. Additionally, for some particular modes of liquid chromatography, the significant improvement of auxiliary physico-chemical properties of stationary phases is often required. This includes an elevated mechanical stability in ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography, a high thermal stability in high temperature liquid chromatography, a superior biocompatibility in biochromatography, a broader pH range of hydrolytic stability for the separation of various inorganic species and many other properties and others. Unsurprisingly, the development of advanced stationary phases for liquid chromatography was selected as a theme for the first Special Issue of the journal Current Chromatography.