Techniques - Over Pressure Layer Chromatography

This technique is a very powerful tool for the identification of unknown components in complex sample matrices. OPLC is a separation technique that provides high chromatographic efficiency - up to 17000 theoretical plates. It combines: flexibility in monitoring the separation, can use either on line or off-line detection and requires only inexpensive, disposable sorbent beds.

With a fluorescent marker incorporated directly into the stationary phase for separation, it is possible to completely identify and isolate almost any chemical sample without a UV-detection system

As a general separation technique OPLC has been successfully applied to problems such as:

• Determination of impurities in pharmaceutical products and reaction mixtures.
• Extraction of compounds of pharmacological interest from natural products.
• Isolation of metabolites in biological fluids.
• Purification of reaction mixtures to extract the compound of interest for additional studies (e.g. for NMR or MS).
• Separation of oligomers of natural (e.g. peptides) and synthetic polymers (e.g. polystyrene).
• Determination of toxins in foodstuffs (e.g. aflatoxins in wheat).

Figure 1 shows the separation of a crude urine sample (injection volume = 800 µL) injected without any prior treatment or solvent extraction.

Disruptive Technologies of Paris offer the Personal OPLC-50, a stand-alone OPLC unit that comes with its own pump.