• FOCUS: LIFE SCIENCE
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• no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.3
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• 2024

The document discusses the regeneration of Partisil/Partisphere ion-exchange columns in chromatography. It mentions that column efficiency can diminish with use due to the accumulation of sample and/or mobile phase impurities at the head of the column. This can lead to a change in back pressure, lower column efficiency, and sometimes a change in selectivity. The document outlines a procedure that may restore column performance. The document also provides everyday practices to enhance the lifetime of a column. These include using only high-purity HPLC solvents and buffers, using freshly prepared mobile phases and buffers, filtering mobile phases to remove particulates, using appropriate sample clean-up procedures, using a guard column or pre-column filter, and working within the pressure and flow rate limitations of the column. For the regeneration of Partisil/Partisphere SAX, SCX, WAX, and WCX columns, the document suggests passing 20 column volumes of various mobile phases through the column. These include a buffer wash, distilled water, an acid wash, a chelating wash, a methanol wash, and a buffer for separation. The document emphasizes that not all of these wash steps are required for every column clean-up and that some chromatographers require only a combination of certain steps.