Liquid chromatography--its development and key role in life science applications.

Liquid chromatographic methods cover the broadest range of applications imaginable today. Nowhere is this more evident and relevant than in the life sciences, where identification of target substances relevant in disease mechanisms is performed down to the femtomole level. On the other hand, purification of therapeutic drugs on a multi-ton scale is performed by process LC. The complexity and abundance range of biological systems in combination with the extreme purity requirements for drug manufacturing are the challenges that can be mastered today by chromatography, after more than a century of research and development. However, significant improvement is still required for a better understanding of the scientific fundamentals of the underlying phenomena and exploiting those for an enhanced quality of live.