Demonstration of the compatibility of narrow-bore packed column high-performance liquid chromatography with conventional detection systems.

A number of commercially available high-performance liquid chromatography detectors fitted with conventionally sized flow cells (4.5 to 14 microliters) have been evaluated for use for narrow-bore (1-3 mm i.d.) packed columns. Contrary to the popular misconception, small flow cell volume (and consequently short path length) does not appear to be a prerequisite for successful use of narrow-bore columns. The 1 mm i.d. columns when used with certain detectors gave up to a 17-fold increase in sensitivity, compared with conventional 4.6 mm i.d. columns. This work, which was carried out using conventional injection volumes (50 microliters), shows that narrow-bore HPLC columns can be used in most laboratories to significant advantage without costly conversion of existing equipment.