Fused-core particle technology in high-performance liquid chromatography: An overview

The advent of superficially porous particles (SPPs) for packed HPLC columns has changed the way that many practitioners have approached the problem of developing needed separations. The very high efficiency of such columns, combined with convenient operating conditions, modest back pressures and the ability to use conventional HPLC instruments has resulted in intense basic studies of SPP technology, and widespread applications in many sciences. This report contains an overview of the SPP technology first developed in 2006 by Advanced Materials Technology, Inc., for sub-3-μm particles, then expanded into a family of SPP products with different particle sizes, pore sizes and other physical parameters. This approach was designed so that each particle of the family could be optimized for separating a particular group of compounds, usually based on solute size.