Metrohm Metrosep A Supp 16 anion exchange columns

Metrohm has introduced Metrosep A Supp 16 high-capacity anion exchange columns which have an inner diameter of 2 mm.

The microbore columns feature improved mass sensitivity: assuming identical sample amounts, microbore-based separations are claimed to show a better mass sensitivity (peak heights and peak areas) than standard bore separations.

Eluent consumption is also reduced, as changing from a 4.0 to a 2.0 mm id column will reduce eluent consumption to about a quarter. This is highly favourable for the operation of ion chromatographs in nuclear power plants that run round the clock and where incoming and outgoing goods pass laborious inspections.

Smaller diameter columns provide an increased absolute mass sensitivity and are mainly used for clinical, pharmaceutical, toxicological and environmental samples with limited sample amounts. By reducing the column diameter to half, a four-fold decrease in column volume and, thus, a lower flow rate is achieved.

Better hyphenation - the challenge in coupling IC to MS consists in adjusting the generally higher column flow rate to the required flow rate for the ion source of the MS. Due to their reduced flow rate, microbore columns can be directly interfaced with online electrospray mass spectrometers.

Due to reduced eluent consumption and the smaller amounts of samples required, microbore-based IC leave a smaller footprint on the environment.