Separation of purine bases, nucleosides and nucleotides by a column-switching technique combining reversed-phase and anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography.

An on-line two-stage column chromatographic technique is described which combines reversed-phase and anion-exchange chromatography for the separation of purine nucleic acid components. The elution program applied, consisting of two gradient programmes, provides a separation of bases and nucleosides on the octadecyl silica column and a separation of the nucleotides on the anion-exchange column to which they have been switched at the beginning of the elution. This method is easy to modify for special problems and can be used when establishing a complete profile of purines.