High-performance liquid chromatography

High-performance liquid chromatography (sometimes referred to - perhaps erroneously - as high-pressure liquid chromatography) (HPLC) is a chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to identify, quantify, and purify the individual components of the mixture.

While most HPLC pumps may typically operate at pressures as high as 40 MPa (6000 lbf/in2), or about 400 atmospheres, modern HPLC systems have been improved to work at much higher pressures, and therefore are able to use much smaller particle sizes in the columns (<2 μm). These "Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography" systems (RSLC or UHPLC) can work at up to 100 MPa (15,000 lbf/in²), or about 1000 atmospheres. Note that the term "UPLC" is a trademark of the Waters Corporation, but it's sometimes used to refer to the more general technique.