Advance in Packed Column Technologies for Nanoflow Liquid Chromatography

As an important format of the miniaturization of high performance liquid chromatography, nanoflow liquid chromatography has been widely used in the fields of life science, biomedicine and microscale analysis, etc, due to its unique advantages such as less consumption of solvent, less demand of sample amount, higher sensitivity and better compatibility with mass spectrometer. As the core of nanoflow liquid chromatography, packed columns are the most commonly used column type, which are prepared by packing spherical chromatographic materials in the capillary tube. Since column is the place where the separation actually takes place, it plays an important role in the resolution and selectivity of chromatographic separations. Therefore, preparation of high resolution microcolumns is of great importance in securing high performance nano-LC separations. There are two key technologies in preparation of nano-LC columns: fritting and packing. In recent years, with the continuous development of fritting and packing technologies, the stability and separation performance of packed nanoflow liquid chromatographic columns have been significantly improved. This review summarized the developments in fritting and packing technologies involved in nanoflow liquid chromatographic columns in the past ten years, and discussed the recent applications in the field of omics research and biopharmaceuticals, as well as its prospects for future developments.