Modern Capillary Scale Liquid Chromatography Columns: An Update

Capillary-scale liquid chromatography uses columns with small inner diameters ranging from 0.075–0.50 mm operated at flow rates between 1–20 µL/min. The low flow rates required to operate these columns offer unique benefits including increased sensitivity in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), reductions in hazardous mobile phase usage, and the ability to integrate non-traditional column formats (open tubular, pillar array, and monolithic columns) into analytical workflows. In this article, we discuss the considerations required for capillary-scale LC, as well as a review of current commercial offerings of capillary-scale columns.