Open Tubular HPLC Columns Using Chemically Etched Poly(Tetrafluoroethylene) Serpentine Tubing

Abstract

A novel open tubular liquid chromatographic column has been developed and demonstrated. Narrow bore poly(tetrafluoroethylene) tubing was knitted into a serpentine configuration using an electronic breadboard as the supporting framework. Studies with unretained solutes showed that these tubes give much less band broadening per unit length than conventional capillary tubes of the same i. cl. due to enhanced radial mixing. When such tubes are treated with a sodium/naphthalene fluorocarbon etching reagent, a carbonaceous surface is formed on the inner wall which provides a stable chromatographic stationary phase. The resulting columns can exhibit either normal or reversed phase behavior, depending on the mobile phase used, and are amenable to both isocratic and gradient elution chromaitography.