During the process of isolating and purifying your molecule, your challenge is always to maximise the purity, recovery and throughput of the separation. A liquid stationary phase provides you with unique benefits which can help you achieve, or improve any one or combination of these goals. The unique benefits are as follows:
Improved sample solubility
Since both the mobile and the stationary phases are liquid, you may load your sample in either one or the other, (or in both) phases. Also many combinations of solvents may be used, so that it is nearly always possible for you to find a combination of solvents which achieve the desired separation of any particular sample.
Ease of scale-up
As the separation is being achieved by mixing two liquids, the underlying physical chemistry is the same at all scales, from mgs to Kgs per injection. Therefore you can easily scale the technique volumetrically.
Total sample recovery
Since there is no solid phase onto which your crude material can adsorb, a very high percentage of your target compound is recovered. Furthermore the sample itself can always be recovered, and at worst it will only be diluted.
Inherent flexibility
All solid stationary phase separation techniques can only be operated in elution mode. Having a liquid stationary phase means that you now have a choice of elution strategy. This inherent flexibility means you can develop an elution strategy to optimise any particular separation against several criteria, including: resolution, time, throughput, reduction in solvent consumption, and cost.
High throughput
In any real application, a key consideration of yours is the volume of sample which can be treated per hour. High Performance CCC, by its nature, scores better on this measure than any other separation technology.
Little or no sample preparation required
Since both phases are liquids, and there are no capillary constrictions to cause blockages, your sample may be loaded in a crude form. This includes samples which may be viscous or contain particles.
Reproducibility
A liquid column can be replaced simply by pumping out the liquid stationary phase, and starting again. This means that the starting conditions of your separation are always the same, which in turn means that the level of reproducibility is extremely high. There are no unexpected surprises or degradations over time.
