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Column Selector Freeware

Choose the Closest Alternative to a Given Chromatographic Column

A web-based tool to help you compare chromatographic columns to one another.

Find Alternative or Compare Two Chromatographic Columns for Your Separation

The Column Selector application helps chromatographers select suitable alternatives to a desired chromatographic column, closely matched for retention and selectivity, based on the Tanaka chromatographic parameters.

Select Column

If you wish to compare only two columns to each other, choose the second column here.

Select Column 2

Weight Values
(Tanaka chromatographic parameter descriptions)

Usage Tips

To increase the number of similar columns, set the weight for hydrophobic retention to zero (kPB = 0). The proportion of organic modifier in the mobile phase must be adjusted to compensate for differences in retention between the original and the new column. If the chromatography is being performed at low pH it may be appropriate to set the αB/P at pH 7.6 parameter to zero in order to deselect this term.

Columns that possess low chromatographic discrimination factors to the original column (i.e., CDF <1) will possess similar chromatographic properties. Whereas, in the method development area, columns with large CDF values (>1) will possess large differences in selectivity (and/or retention) to the original column.

Tanaka chromatographic parameter descriptions:

kPB reflects the hydrophobic retention and surface area of the column
αCH2 reflects the hydrophobicity of the column
αT/O reflects steric selectivity (a column with a high value is different from one with a low value however it is not possible to state which will give the largest selectivity between two analytes)
αC/P reflects the H-bonding capacity of a column
αB/P at pH 7.6 reflects the total number of free silanol groups on the column
αB/P at pH 2.7 reflects the number of acidic silanol groups on the column

References

  1. M.R. Euerby and P. Petersson. (2003). Chromatographic classification and comparison of commercially available reversed-phase liquid chromatographic columns using principal component analysis. J. Chromatogr. A, 994, 13-36.
  2. M.R. Euerby, A.P. McKeown and P. Petersson. (2003). Chromatographic classification and comparison of commercially available perfluorinated stationary phases for reversed-phase liquid chromatography using principal component analysis. J. Sep. Sci., 26, 295-306.
  3. P. Petersson, M.R. Euerby. (2005). An evaluation of the robustness of the Tanaka characterization protocol for reversed-phase liquid chromatography columns. J. Sep. Sci., 28, 2120-2129.
  4. M.R. Euerby, P. Petersson. (2005). Chromatographic classification and comparison of commercially available reversed-phase liquid chromatographic columns containing polar embedded groups/amino endcappings using principal component analysis. J. Chromatogr. A, 1088, 1-15.
  5. P. Petersson, M.R. Euerby. (2007). Characterisation of RPLC columns packed with porous sub-2 µm particles. J. Sep. Sci., 30, 2012-2024.
  6. M.R. Euerby, P. Petersson, W. Campbell, W. Roe. (2007). Chromatographic classification and comparison of commercially available reversed-phase liquid chromatographic columns containing phenyl moieties using principal component analysis. J. Chromatogr. A, 1154, 138-151.
  7. C. Markopoulou, T. Tweedlie, D. Watson, G. Skellern, H. Reda, P. Petersson, H. Bradstock, M.R. Euerby. (2009). A Study of the Relative Importance of Lipophilic, π–π and Dipole–Dipole Interactions on Cyanopropyl, Phenyl and Alkyl LC Phases Bonded onto the Same Base Silica. Chromatographia, 70, 705–715.
  8. M.R. Euerby, M. James, B-O. Axelsson, O. Rosén, P. Petersson. (2012). Validation of the extended Tanaka column characterization protocol by multivariate analysis of chromatographic retention of low molecular weight analytes on reversed phase columns using methanol and acetonitrile as organic modifiers. J. Sep. Sci., 35, 2592–2598.
  9. M.R. Euerby, M. James, P. Petersson. (2012). Practical Implications of the “Tanaka” Stationary Phase Characterization Methodology using Ultra High Performance Chromatographic Conditions. J. Chromatogr. A, 1228, 165-174.