Use of solvent selectivity optimization procedures for high-performance liquid chromatographic method development

Abstract

Solvent optimization procedures for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method development have been used in the past, but have never become routinely established owing to the complexity of the task involved. A unique solvent optimization software package has been developed by Philips Research that reduces the complexity of the problem. The optimization software utilizes four solvents and data from a UV diode-array system, and requires only eleven experiments in order to produce an optimized isocratic method. It has proved to be a powerful tool for solvent optimization in HPLC method development, and has proved its ability to resolve complex chromatographic problems, reducing method development time considerably. The system produces isocratic methods which, when compared with similar gradient methods, have analysis times reduced typically by a factor of 3-4. The fact that isocratic rather than gradient methods are produced leads to the production of more robust methods that can be easily transferred to other HPLC laboratories for routine testing or quality control purposes.