During the processes of isolation of your compound, 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:
High throughput
In any real application, a key consideration is the quantity of sample which can be processed per unit time. The high capacity of CCC enables better throughput performance than most other separation technologies.
Improved sample solubility
Since both the mobile and the stationary phases are liquid, it is possible to load the sample in either or 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: the technique is easily scaled up in a direct, linear, volumetric manner.
Total sample recovery
Since there is no solid phase to irreversibly adsorb your solutes, very high percentages of your target compounds are recovered. Furthermore, the whole sample itself can always be recovered, and at worst it will only be diluted.
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. Unlike columns containing solid stationary phases, the starting conditions of your separation are always the same, which means that the level of reproducibility is extremely high and with extended use there is no performance degradation.
No solid stationary phase
When using CCC, high quality, expensive RP adsorbents are not at risk of contamination and there is no need to dedicate columns or media to particular purification problems to avoid the risks of cross-contamination. NP flash chromatography generates large quantities of solid waste: CCC eliminates this problem.
Inherent flexibility
Generally, solid stationary phase separation techniques can only be operated in elution mode. Having a liquid stationary phase means that you now have a variety of elution strategyoptions. This inherent flexibility means you can develop an elution strategy to optimise any particular separation against several criteria, including resolution, cycle time, throughput, reduction in solvent consumption, and cost.
