The Analytical Chemistry curriculum includes instruction in the theory and practice of chromatography.  Furthermore, the American Chemical Society requires that students who pursue the ACS-approved degree in Chemistry gain hands-on experience in the use of an instrumental chromatographic technique.  Much of the time, this experience is gained through the use of chromatography for a straightforward chemical analysis. However, an analytical method development approach to laboratory instruction in chromatography is less common.  In this laboratory experiment, designed for an upper-level analytical chemistry course, the investigation of chromatographic parameters that are commonly reported for analytical methods used in the pharmaceutical industry are investigated. More specifically, chromatographic parameters such as tailing factor and resolution will be calculated under different mobile phase compositions.  The effect of mobile phase composition on retention factor is also investigated. Experimental values of the retention factor obtained in the laboratory will be compared to those determined using theoretical calculations.  As a result of completing this experiment, students should be able to optimize an HPLC method for the separation of at least three compounds by manipulation of mobile phase composition.  Furthermore, students will also gain insight into the relationship between theoretically and experimentally obtained chromatographic parameters.<br/>

Optimization of an HPLC method: A method development approach to upper-level undergraduate laboratory instruction

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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