Development of Narrow-Bore C18 Column for Fast Separation of Peptides and Proteins in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Separation with high efficiency and good resolution is constantly in demand in the pharmaceutical industry. The fast and efficient separation of complex samples such as peptides and proteins is a challenging task. To achieve high efficiency with good resolution, chromatographers are moving towards small particles packed into narrow-bore columns. Silica monolith particles (sub-2 µm) were derivatized with chlorodimethyl octadecyl silane (C18) and packed into stainless steel columns (100 mm × 1.8 mm i.d) by a slurry-packing method. The developed columns were used for the separation of peptides and proteins. A separation efficiency (N) of 40,000 plates/column (400,000 plates/m) was achieved for the mixture of five peptides. Similarly, the fast separation of the peptides was carried out using a high flow rate, and the separation of the five peptides was achieved in one minute with high efficiency (N ≅ 240,000 plates/m). The limit of detection (DL) and the limit of quantification (QL) for each analyte were determined by developing a linear regression curve with relatively very low concentrations of the target compound. The average values of the QL for the peptide and proteins were 0.55 ng and 0.48 ng, respectively, using short C18 column (1.8 mm × 100 mm) UV (at 214 nm). The fast analysis of peptides and proteins with such high efficiency and good resolution has not been reported in the literature yet. Owing to high efficiency, these home-made columns could be used as an alternative to the expensive commercial columns for peptide and protein separation.