Thermal expansion pump for capillary high-performance liquid chromatography.

A thermal expansion pump (TEP) based on a principle of liquid thermal expansion for capillary high-performance liquid chromatography has been developed. The novel pump is capable of generating a continuous flow at high pressure for constant and stable delivery of binary solvents from nanoliters to microliters per minute without splitting. Theoretical equations for controlling fluidic output of this pump have been established and validated by a series of experiments. Factors affecting flow rate, such as density discrepancy, liquid compressibility, and mass loss in output, were taken into account. An assembly of the pump system employing two groups of thermal expansion pumps (TEPs) working in turns were fabricated, and a controlling strategy for the pump system to maintain a continuous delivery without pressure fluctuation even at switching points was also developed. Both isocratic and gradients of binary solvent delivery by the TEPs were performed. Reproducibility and standard deviation at different flow rates were determined. A capillary high-performance liquid chromatography (micro-HPLC) system consisting of the TEPs, an injection valve, a homemade packed capillary column (20 cm x 100 microm i.d. with 5 microm C18), and a laser-induced fluorescence detector was set up, and sample separations were carried out. Results of RSD = 4% for flow and RSD = 2% for retention times at 500 nL/min were achieved. Such a pump system has almost no moving parts except for the solvent switches. Its overall costs of manufacture and running are very low. It is proven that the TEPs system has great potential and competitive capabilities in capillary liquid chromatography.