Axial temperature gradient and mobile phase gradient in microcolumn high-performance liquid chromatography

The effect of axial temperature gradient (ATG) along a microcolumn on the separation performance at both isocratic and gradient elution mode was investigated. A thermostat system was designed to form an ATG along the packed column. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were separated on a 0.53 mm  × 150 mm i.d. 5 μm C18 microcolumn, with water and acetonitrile as mobile phase. The separation results obtained at mobile phase gradient (MPG) and ATG in microcolumn HPLC were compared with the results performed at ambient conditions. Extrapolated curves of peak width at half height (wh) versus lnk showed that wh is narrower at the same retention time when ATG was applied in addition to MPG. The column efficiency was enhanced 20-30% and the resolution was slightly reduced because of reduction of selectivity at elevated temperature at ATG condition. The RSD of retention time in ATG mode was less than 2.5%.