The design of HPLC columns has not undergone any significant change for over 40 years. Active Flow Technology[1] has been shown to improve the performance of standard analytical columns by removing dispersion caused by wall effects, with the creation of virtual columns that are wall effect free. This has two significant advantages that are observed with the technology, namely:
• improved efficiency
• improved detector sensitivity
These advantages are achieved using two differing configurations.
The two configurations utilised are referred to as parallel segmented flow and curtain flow, with the latter being used to improve the sensitivity of a chromatographic system.
In this study the application of active flow technology in a curtain flow mode of operation is assessed on the analysis of a range of compounds using both UV and MS detection systems. A series of experiments are performed which looks at different configurations of columns in standard mode and also in curtain mode to quantitatively assess the improvements in sensitivity, and to determine the origin of the improvement. It was seen that for UV detection the improvement observed was consistent with previously presented data [2], however when the detection systems was swapped to mass spectrometry significant differences in the observed signal to noise response were noted. Data will be presented which will demonstrate that in curtain flow mode substantial improvements in sensitivity can be obtained (up to a factor of 10) when equivalent samples are loaded onto the chromatographic system.