Welch products introduction

Ghost-buster II Column

During HPLC analysis, especially gradient elution or after long-term system usage, some unexpected peaks, often called "Ghost Peaks", may appear in the chromatogram. Welch Materials original Ghost-Buster Column can capture ghost peaks, but this has sometimes been accompanied by baseline fluctuation, which may affect the integration of some peaks.

Brand New Product

Welch Materials is delighted to announce the launch of Ghost-Buster II Column, an upgraded and improved Ghost-Buster column, which can absorb mobile phase
impurities and eliminate ghost peaks. At the same time, baseline drift caused by a high proportion of aqueous solvent in the gradient program is minimized, which ensures a stable baseline.

 

For analysts who have chromatograms suffering from ghost peaks, the Ghost-Buster II Column is a great solution.

Stronger Capturing Effect

Ghost-Buster II Column uses a specifically optimized stationary phase and improved hardware.Ghost-Buster II Column removes impurities in the mobile phase with stronger retention.

 

More Stable Baseline

When the initial proportion of aqueous phase is high (generally more than 95%), using conventional GB columns can remove impurities effectively. But some ghost peaks may still occur when the proportion of mobile phase has a drastic change in a few minutes or the baseline has large fluctuation. By improving the overall design of the Ghost-Buster II Column, the mobile phase is fully mixed before entering the analytical column, greatly reducing the baseline fluctuation and drift in the initial phase of the gradient program.

 

Precautions

  1. Install the column between Mixer and Injector. Being installed after injector would cause strong adsorption to samples and affect analysis.
  2. For new analytical columns, flush Ghost-Buster column with 80% methanol solution at 1ml/min for 20min before new column switching to the system.
  3. Not all impurities can be adsorbed by Ghost-Buster column.
  4. Ion-pair solvents in mobile phase, would be adsorbed by Ghost-Buster column and affect retention and peak shape. Please use with caution under such mobile phases.
  5. Column lifetime depends on analytical conditions, mobile phase and solvent purity. Routine change of Ghost-Buster column is suggested to ensure performance.
  6. Ghost-Buster column is rather a purification part to the system, to filtrate impurities and protect column and system
  7. Before and after using buffer salt mobile phase, flush column with high-ratio water to transit, thus to avoid buffer salting out and blocking the column.
  8. When Ghost-Buster column shows unsatisfying performance, try disconnect the outlet of the column and flush with100% acetonitrile.

Q&A

Q: For different samples and gradient conditions, should the Ghost-Buster column be removed or changed?
A: Not necessary. But it needs to be removed only for special circumstances like changing of peak position or ion-pair solvents mobile phase.
Q: When gradient elution changed to isocratic, should the Ghost-Buster column be removed?
A: No need to take the Ghost-Buster column if it did not affect the separation, as the elution of mobile phase stays same under isocratic condition. But impurities in mobile phase shall be taken into consideration.
Q: In gradient system, Ghost-Buster column increases the mixed dwell volume. Will this affect the separation?
A: The packing volume of a 4.6x50mm column is ~400ul and the column is installed before the injector, which would cause little influence on the analysis. lf it does, connect Ghost-Buster column to the water phase path before the mixer or switching valve.
Q: Any requirements for the connecting of Ghost-Buster column?
A: No special requirements for the connection, Common PEEK tube and connectors for HPLC system is recommended.