Analysis of artificial colorants by ultra-fast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

There has always been a strong demand for high-throughput analysis. In liquid chromatography, the approach of using columns with finer packing material to decrease the theoretical plate height and increase mobile phase linear velocity has been effective in achieving higher throughput. However, careful consideration of such ramifications as the magnitude of the pressure loss and repeatability associated with the adoption of sub-2μm particle diameters as packing material is necessary. In addition to shortening analysis time, enhanced separation and repeatability are also important factors. When column pressure is set to a value below 30 MPa, the best separation is achieved with a packing material particle diameter from 2.0 to 2.5μm. Based on this, we have developed the Ultra-Fast Liquid Chromatography (UFLC) system and a new series of 2.2μm-particle diameter ODS columns. Here we report on the evaluation of a UFLC-MS system used in the analysis of artificial colorants.