Using the column wall itself as resistive heater for fast temperature gradients in liquid chromatography

A new system is proposed for applying fast temperature gradients in liquid chromatography. It consists of a 0.7 mm x 150 mm fused-silica column coated with a 50 mu m Nickel-layer, which is connecting with a power source and a temperature control system to perform fast and reproducible temperature gradients using the column wall itself as a resistive heater. Applying a current of 4A and passive cooling results in a maximal heating and cooling rate of, respectively, 71 and -21 degrees C/min. Multi-segment temperature gradients were superimposed on mobile phase gradients to enhance the selectivity for three sets of mixtures (pharmaceutical compounds, a highly complex mixture and an insecticide sample). This resulted in a higher peak count or better selectivities for the various mixtures. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.