The Case for Upgrading Existing HPLC Assays to UPLC-Free Whitepaper

For decades HPLC, high pressure liquid chromatography, has been the gold standard separations technique for biological compounds which cannot be analyzed in the gaseous phase. It is commonly used to assay drug compounds for impurities, derivatives, raw materials, and other components as part of the quality control process as well as during drug discovery and development. HPLC is commonly used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as well as other sectors that require high performance separation of compounds that cannot be analyzed using gas chromatography.

UPLC, ultra-pressure liquid chromatography, is the successor technology to HPLC techniques and assays that have been widely used since the 1970s. UPLC has emerged from the laboratory over the past few years and moved to the bench top. It offers similar analytic capabilities as the more familiar HPLC but operates at much higher pressures. This increased, or ultra, pressure provides the advantages of improved resolution, shorter run times, fewer consumables, and similar advances to separation science and those who depend on it to analyze and characterize vital compounds.