NARROW OPEN TUBULAR LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY: SEPARATION OPTIMIZATION AND COLUMN IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

The continuous progress of life sciences such as genome sequencing, proteomics and metabolomics has facilitated the development of effective tools to better analyze the large numbers of bio-samples with low quantities and high complexities. Liquid chromatography (LC), as an essential analytical tool for analyzing many bio-samples, has encountered an unprecedented demand for enhanced resolving power and lower detection level. Open tubular (OT) column had been theoretically predicted to offer the greatest potential for extremely high separation efficiency in LC and produce superior resolving power in the bioanalytical studies during the past four decades. Recently, works from Dr. Shaorong Liu’s group practically validated the predicted potential of ultrahigh-resolution and ultrahigh-speed open tubular liquid chromatography separations. This dissertation focuses on the studies investigating the on-column and gradient focusing mechanism for the narrow open tubular liquid chromatography (NOTLC) to induce high-resolution separation, and the experimental explorations for the ultrahigh efficiencies and ultrafast separations. In addition, the key parameters for optimizing the NOTLC column were systematically tested and improved according to the separation efficiency and reliability. The integration of the high-resolution NOTLC separation techniques and advanced detection method can potentially benefit fundamental research and broad types of applications such as single cell analysis and studies of proteomics.