Anomalies in HPLC

Despite all the sophisticated developments in the HPLC technique, anomalies can occur before or during chromatography. This paper offer a discussion of such anomalies and of adjustment to the chromatographic system that will obviate them. Significant examples include: a faulty choice of solvent that can lead to an irregular peak shape or to a response that can different for the standard than for the sample. The analyte can form inter- or intra- molecular bonds that can also result in spurious peaks. Ostensibly similar columns from different vendors, or even from the same vendor, can produce different retention times for identical compounds. Non-linear responses can result from column and detector limitations. Working hypotheses for explaining such abnormal results are proposed and, where possible, tested.