Hydrodynamic chromatography of polystyrene microparticles in micropillar array columns

We report on the possibility to perform HDC in micropillar array columns and the potential advantages of such a system. The HDC performance of a pillar array column with pillar diameter = 5 μm and an interpillar distance of 2.5 μm has been characterized using both a low MW tracer (FITC) and differently sized polystyrene bead samples (100, 200 and 500 nm). The reduced plate height curves that were obtained for the different investigated markers all overlapped very well, and attained a minimum value of about hmin = 0.3 (reduction based on the pillar diameter), corresponding to 1.6 μm in absolute value and giving good prospects for high efficiency separations. The obtained reduced retention time values were in fair agreement with that predicted by the Di Marzio and Guttman model for a flow between flat plates, using the minimal interpillar distance as characteristic interplate distance.