What is HPLC?

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) separates compounds in a liquid mixture using a high-pressure pump to drive the sample through a packed column.

How it works

Sample is injected into a flowing mobile phase, passes through a column packed with a stationary phase, and separates based on each compound's affinity for stationary vs. mobile phase.

Common detector types

• UV-Vis — most common, measures absorption at 190-800 nm
• DAD (Diode Array Detector) — UV across full spectrum simultaneously
• FLD (Fluorescence) — for fluorescent compounds, much higher sensitivity
• ELSD / CAD — for non-UV-absorbing compounds (carbohydrates, lipids)
• MS — coupled to mass spec for definitive identification