Absolute Basics of HPLC and LC-MS

What will you learn on this course?

This course provides the theory of HPLC and LC-MS essential to any participant, along with the hands-on practical element in the laboratory to practice and re-enforce the theoretical knowledge. These courses are 50% theory and 50% practical in a lab environment.

After an introduction to liquid chromatography, this course addresses solvents & buffers (the mobile phase), pumps, isocratic and gradient elution, sample introduction, analytical columns, HPLC detectors, mass spectrometry including tuning, ionisation, mass analysers, ion detector and data analysis. The knowledge is then used to create methods, perform injections and change parameters to see the effects. The course discusses the need for maintenance along with practicals to carry out maintenance on both an HPLC and an LC-MS system such as the autosampler, injector, columns, detectors, MS tuning, vacuum system, ion source and the mass analyser. A day is spent on troubleshooting an HPLC and LC-MS instrument and learning what problems can occur, with real problem solving on the instruments and data analysis software.

This course combines the five individual hands-on days covering HPLC Theory and Methods, HPLC Maintenance, LC-MS Theory and Methods, LC-MS Maintenance and HPLC & LC-MS Troubleshooting.

Learning outcomes:

• You will learn the importance of good chromatography
• You will learn about the function & operation of the individual HPLC components
• You will become familiar with the HPLC instrumentation
• You will have practical experience of adjusting the parameters for each HPLC component
• You will have practical experience of performing maintenance on each HPLC component
• You will learn the principles of mass spectrometry
• You will learn about the function & operation of the LC-MS individual components
• You will become familiar with the MS instrumentation
• You will have practical experience of adjusting the parameters for each MS component
• You will have practical experience of performing maintenance on each MS component
• You will learn the strategies for HPLC & LC-MS instrument troubleshooting
• You will have practical experience of HPLC & LC-MS instrument troubleshooting