Hydroxide gradient elution is an effective approach in ion chromatography analysis due to its ability to separate organic acids and anions with a wide range of characteristics. During method development of such protocols, scouting gradients is a quick way to rapidly screen different columns and assess their potential for a certain analysis situation and sample composition.
Singly charged anions of small organic acids can be challenging to separate due to their low retention on many ion chromatography columns. During method development for their analysis several different columns often need to be compared to find a separation selectivity that is suitable for the set of compounds in question.
Gradient elution is a powerful tool when aiming to separate many compounds having a wide range of different chemical characteristics. Hydroxide gradients are the most common approach in ion chromatography since they can be converted into pure water with nearly zero conductivity.
Small organic acids are an important group of chemical compounds that needs to be analysed and quantified in many different industries. This application shows ion chromatography of a variety of organic acids using a non-optimized isocratic carbonate-based eluent.
