Applications of superficially porous particles: high speed, high efficiency or both?

The new generation of superficially porous particles (SPPs) offers impressive chromatographic efficiency compared to totally porous particles. Specifically, modern sub-3-μm SPPs generate much improved reduced plate height but at lower backpressure compared to sub-2-μm totally porous particles. This feature makes them attractive for various types of applications and SPPs are quickly being adopted in many analytical laboratories. In this review, we use optimization theory to compare the performance limit of modern SPPs and totally porous particles under optimized conditions, in order to answer the question: what are the optimal applications for modern SPPs? Are they most suitable for fast separations, or for high efficiency separations, or for both? Successful examples of using modern SPPs in different application areas are reviewed, over a wide range of sample complexity and analysis time. Practical aspects of the use of such particles and future development possibilities are also discussed.