Theoretical plates column diameter reduction

The major reason why a reduction of the particle size or column diameter is expected to lead to an increase of separation speed (resolution power per time unit) can be found in its effect to decrease r. Separation speed is often expressed in the analytical literature in terms of the number of theoretical plates N per time unit f (for a definition of N in terms of experimental parameters see Sect. 3.1.1). For zone dispersion due to lateral non-equilibrium, the ratio N/t will be in general inversely proportional to r [20] ... 

An equally important trend is a reduction in column size and a concomitant increase in analytical speed. Short columns can reduce analysis time, and efficiency may be as high as 5000 theoretical plates since the particle size of the packing material is 3 /u.m. The analysis time is about 1 minute. A standard HPLC column has a diameter of 4.6 mm as compared to 2, 1, or even 0.5 mm for the new columns. The small size of these columns allows the use of more expensive solvents deuterated solvents might be used when it is necessary to analyze the collected samples by NMR. The use of ultramicrobore (50-/u.m diameter) columns allows feeding of the eluted peaks directly into a mass spectrometer of FTIR instrument. 

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