Hand-portable liquid chromatographic instrumentation

• Requirements for portable liquid chromatography (LC) instrumentation are outlined.
• Advancements in capillary LC columns are briefly reviewed.
• Developments made in low-flow-rate pumps and miniaturized detectors are emphasized.
• Finally, integrated portable LC, IC and microchip LC systems are reviewed.

Over the last four decades, liquid chromatography (LC) has experienced an evolution to smaller columns and particles, new stationary phases and low flow rate instrumentation. However, the development of person-portable LC has not followed, mainly due to difficulties encountered in miniaturizing pumps and detectors, and in reducing solvent consumption. The recent introduction of small, non-splitting pumping systems and UV-absorption detectors for use with capillary columns has finally provided miniaturized instrumentation suitable for high-performance hand-portable LC. Fully integrated microfabricated LC still remains a significant challenge. Ion chromatography (IC) has been successfully miniaturized and applied for field analysis; however, applications are mostly limited to inorganic and small organic ions. This review covers advancements that make possible more rapid expansion of portable forms of LC and IC.