General theory of peak compression in liquid chromatography.

A new and general expression of the peak compression factor in liquid chromatography is derived. It applies to any type of gradients induced by non-uniform columns (stationary) or by temporal variations (dynamic) of the elution strength related to changes in solvent composition, temperature, or in any external field. The new equation is validated in two ideal cases for which the exact solutions are already known. From a practical viewpoint, it is used to predict the achievable degree of peak compression for curved retention models, retained solvent gradients, and for temperature-programmed liquid chromatography. The results reveal that: (1) curved retention models affect little the compression factor with respect to the best linear strength retention models, (2) gradient peaks can be indefinitely compressed with respect to isocratic peaks if the propagation speed of the gradient (solvent or temperature) becomes smaller than the chromatographic velocity, (3) limitations are inherent to the maximum intensity of the experimental intrinsic gradient steepness, and (4) dynamic temperature gradients can be advantageously combined to solvent gradients in order to improve peak capacities of microfluidic separation devices.