Development of a microbore high-performance liquid chromatographic system for biological applications.

Simple and relatively inexpensive modifications are described for conversion of an existing high-performance liquid chromatographic system to a microbore system capable of isocratic or gradient elution. Use of micro guard columns was shown to be a practical method of protecting the microbore analytical columns when chromatographing samples of physiological origin. The microbore chromatograph was successfully integrated with an autoinjector to permit automation of the system. The modified microbore system was used successfully for the isocratic and gradient separations of standard solutions as well as physiological samples. Evaluation of the system performance was based upon comparisons of column efficiency, selectivity, resolution, and sensitivity.