Design of an open-tubular column liquid chromatograph using silicon chip technology

Abstract

A novel concept of high pressure liquid chromatography is presented, involving a silicon chip with an open-tubular column and a conductometric detector, a chip holder and a pressure pulse driven injector using a conventional liquid chromatography pump and valves. The design and optimization of the chromatograph and the chip are discussed. A 5 × 5 mm chip containing an open-tubular column of 6 μm × 2 μm × 15 cm was fabricated, which has theoretical separation efficiencies of 8000 and 25 000 plates in 1 and 5 min, respectively. The total column volume is 1.5 nanoliter and the detection cell volume 1.2 picoliter.