Particle-based liquid chromatographic separations in microfluidic devices - A review

The research and applications of liquid chromatographic (LC) chips receive more and more attention due to the numerous advantages over the traditional and larger analytical systems, e.g. requirement for small sample and reagent volumes, fast and inexpensive analysis, dead-volume free connections and the ability to multiplex measurements. Since LC is one of the most powerful separation techniques, its miniaturization seems an obvious target of lab-on-a-chip developments. However, the common procedures used in the preparation of chromatographic columns are not well applicable at the microscopic level. Additionally, implementing sample injection of (sub)nanoliter volumes (with sensitive detection) is still a challenge.