Finding the Right HPLC Solvents

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HPLC

HPLC is one of the most common analytical procedures performed in labs today, and it’s used to measure a variety of substances, including:

  • Explosives, PCBs and VOCs 
  • Petrochemicals, lubricants and hydrocarbons
  • Vitamins and plant extracts 
  • Sugars, nutritional substances and additives 
  • Drug impurities, antihistamines, drugs of abuse and NSAIDs
  • Fungicides, herbicides and pesticides 

Chemical Solvents

Chemical Solvents are a high-volume and critical component of successful HPLC assays, and HPLC-grade chemicals will deliver the best results. The American Chemical Society (ACS) sets standards for various grades of chemicals, and most HPLC-grade chemicals have these characteristics in common: 

  • Meet ACS specifications 
  • Submicron filtered 
  • Purified to contain low contaminants and low residues 
  • Application-specific and function tested 
  • Consistent from lot to lot 
  • Low backgrounds; free of extraneous peaks
  • Low UV absorbance in critical ranges 
  • Fluorescence tested for trace impurities 
  • Function tested for assay, water and minimal residue after evaporation

The Options 

Use standard and affordable HPLC-grade solvents for routine, high-volume and well-characterized applications (QC for pharmaceutical, food and beverage testing). More specific applications may require UHPLC or LC-MS grade chemicals to meet performance requirements. Advantages to using the most appropriate grade of solvents for your application (that can offset the additional cost of a higher purity product): 

  • Reduces rework 
  • Offers greater reproducibility in your results 
  • Facilitates methods transfer 
  • Improves the sensitivity of instruments 
  • Reduces erroneous peaks and maximizes peak resolution
  • Can extend column life 
  • Reduces downtime

Your Best Choice

Choose a product line created for a given application or testing methodology.

Pick a manufacturer with the necessary expertise in purification, packaging and analytical testing to produce multiple grades of chemicals with consistent quality at each grade.

Visit fishersci.com/chromatography or fishersci.ca/chromatography for more information about HPLC solvent selection.