Why use CCC
CCC complimentary HPLC


Natural Product Bioactitives
Isocratic vs Step Gradient
Novel Alkaloids


Polyphenols
Engine Oil Additives, Isocratic
Effect Coil Volume
Comparison to Flash Chrom
Which Biphasic Solvents
Linear Gradients
pH Modification Part Coeff
Step Gradient
Linear Gradient RP
Comparison NP to RP
Unknown Bioactivites
Engine Oil Additives :Gradient
LC-FID

 

COUNTER CURRENT CHROMATOGRAPHY IS COMPLIMENTARY TO PREPARATIVE HPLC.

Strengths of Counter Current Chromatography

1. CCC can cope with a wide range of radically different polarity compounds.

2. CCC can cope with particulates and extract solid samples.

3. CCC can have orthogonal selectivity to HPLC.


4. CCC can achieve 99 + % purity of target compounds from complex samples.

5. CCC can take extremely complex matrices, such as natural product extracts and heart cut target polarities, bio-actives etc without risk of on-column degradation or adsorption.

6. CCC uses exactly the same type of liquid pumps, injectors, switching valves fraction collectors etc as HPLC, flash chromatography or SMB, but as CCC often requires only a fraction of the solvent flow or total solvent used, CCC offers substantial cost savings in capital equipment cost by using lower flow pumps, plus savings in solvent and process cost.


7. Scale up is linear and predictable for the modular Quattro CCC™.

8. Small laboratory 100 ml coil CCC can rapidly process 0.5 to 2 + grams of crude extract, but only require flows of 2 to 10 ml /min and therefore can use a standard analytical HPLC pump.

9. Single process units of 3000 ml can rapidly prepare 15 to 60 + grams of crude extract, but only require flows of 25 to 100 ml /min. HPLC Pumps of this capacity are available for modest cost.

10. Any number of process units can be used in series / manifolded in parallel / or used in SMB mode for tonne per annum production.

Weaknesses of Counter Current Chromatography

1. CCC solvent selection choice is unfamiliar to many chromatographers.

2. CCC fundamental principles are unfamiliar to many chromatographers.

Strengths of Preparative HPLC

1. Choice of phase and solvent optimization familiar to most chromatographers.

2. Traditional preparative/process chromatographers understand scale up.

Weaknesses of Preparative HPLC

1. The individual costs of high-resolution 5 or 10um particle size columns of 250mm length by 1 or 2 inch diameter are relatively high; yet the sample loading may be only 0.5 to 2 grams. The typical eluent flows would be 10 to 50 + ml / min and these flows would require a dedicated Preparative HPLC pump.

2. Columns can be easily and permanently incapacitated by injection of crude extract containing a wide mix of polarities.

3. Equipment to pack columns of larger than 2 inch bore requires a large one-off cost, plus requires the purchase of HPLC phase as a consumable.


4. Columns capable of loadings of 15 to 60 grams would require flows of 100’s ml /min to 1000 + ml /min, and therefore require specialist and very expensive HPLC pumps plus solvent handling equipment.

5. Scale up from 250 x 4.6 mm id analytical columns with 3 to 5um particle to larger preparative columns often with 7, 10, 15 or 20 um particle sizes is not familiar to many analytical chromatographers

Complimentary Nature of Counter Current Chromatography to Preparative HPLC

When suitable biphasic solvent systems are chosen a Quattro CCC™ can prepare a highly pure ( 99 + % ) target compound, directly from a complex matrix.

Sometimes, however, the time and or method optimization familiarity is not available to find a successful CCC method in an allotted time scale.

Generic Counter Current Chromatography step gradient techniques are available to heart cut target polarities from crude, complex mixtures. This CCC technique can both radically reduce the mass needing to be prepared by the preparative HPLC, plus substantially reduce the likelihood of contaminating the HPLC column.

As an example…………consider a crude natural product extract of 50 grams with 1% active. This could not be considered directly by preparative HPLC, but would only require a 3000 ml Quattro CCC™ running at 50 ml /min to heart cut approximately 1 grams of a narrow polarity band. A 250 mm long x 1 inch diameter preparative HPLC column with 10um HPLC reverse phase running at 25 ml /min using standard HPLC solvent and phase optimization techniques, could then rapidly prepare the target, without risk of irreversible column contamination.

Now scale this down from 50 grams of sample to 1 grams of sample.

A small 100 ml Quattro CCC™ coil running at modest flows available from standard analytical HPLC pumps, could rapidly prepare 10mg of a narrow polarity extract.

Consider the cost savings of a 10 mg Preparative HPLC column plus ancillary equipment, compared to a 1 gram column with the appropriate ancillary equipment……..and factor in the lack of risk of column contamination after Counter Current Chromatography heart cutting………


Worth Thinking About ? Require More Information…

Click on Quattro CCC™