Chromasol Jade C18 HPLC Column – USP – L1

Detailed Technical Features of Chromasol JADE C18

Here are more technical details, pulled together from Intek Chromasol’s own documentation, plus interpretation:

1. Stationary Phase / Base Material

   • The base material is porous spherical silica.

   • The bonded phase is octadecyl (C18) silane.

   • The carbon loading is approximately 16%.

   • The silica is end-capped, which means residual silanol groups are capped, improving peak shape (especially for polar / basic analytes).

2. Particle Size & Pore Size Options

   • According to Intek, for the analytical JADE C18, the particle size is 5 µm.

   • Pore sizes available: 100 Å and 120 Å for the analytical Jade version.

   • Surface area: about 400 m²/g (for these pore sizes) as per Intek.

3. Efficiency & Column Performance

   • The reduced plate height (h) is ~2.3 (range 2.2–2.5), indicating good packing and column efficiency.

   • Theoretical plate count (N) reproducibility: % RSD ≈ 3.2%.

   • Peak shape (tailing factor, TF): % RSD ~1.3, which means the column gives nice, symmetrical peaks in many typical separations.

4. Selectivity / Retention

   • In a test using NIST SRM 870 (standard compound mix), the column showed a “five finger pattern” → this indicates good resolution for standard test compounds, and suggests low silanol or metal activity.

   • Selectivity factor (α) example: for toluene vs ethyl benzene, α ≈ 1.58 for Chromasol JADE (higher than some competitors in their test).

   • Retentivity: Intek claims higher retentivity, meaning good hydrophobic interaction, which helps for separating low molar mass compounds.

5. Chemical / pH Stability

   • The column is stable over a wide pH range: pH 2 – 10.

   • Acid purge test: At pH = 2, 70 °C for 16 hours → after this, only a small (2–3%) increase in void volume and TF, and ~9% increase in plate number.

   • Base purge test: At pH = 10, 40 °C for 16 hours → they saw a ~3% drop in plate number in the first ~9.5 h, then a ~13% increase up to 16 h; tailing factor decreases by ~2.7%, and void volume decreases by ~24%.

   • Interpretation: very robust column, capable of being cleaned / regenerated with acid or base, which is useful for demanding or dirty sample matrices.

6. Thermal Stability

   • While Intek doesn’t specify a maximum operating temperature explicitly in all places, the acid stability test was conducted at 70 °C, which suggests the column can handle elevated temperatures reasonably well.

   • For safe long-term use, especially at very high temperature, verify with Intek for your specific column dimension / variant.

7. Reproducibility & Quality Control

   • Intek emphasizes process-defined, measured, validated, controlled packing, meaning they have good quality control for batch-to-batch consistency.

   • They provide a validation report with the column. This typically contains key parameters: plate count, tailing factor, void volume, reproducibility.

8. Applications

   • Intek highlights use in low molar mass sample analysis.

   • They specifically mention pharmaceuticals — injectables, tablets, etc. — as typical application areas.

   • The ability to survive pH 2–10 purges makes this useful for stability studies, method development, and cleaning protocols.

9. Preparative / Scale-Up Variants

   • Intek also offers JADE PREP version of the C18 (same chemistry, but for preparative-scale separations).

   • For prep columns: listed part-numbers include IC185120-4625 for 4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm, 120 Å prep column.

   • This means there is good continuity between analytical and prep scale, useful if you want to scale up a method developed on analytical scale.

10. Wide-Pore Variant (“WP”)

    • Intek has a JADE WP (wide-pore) version: pore size = 300 Å, particle size = 5 µm.

    • Surface area for WP: ~116 m²/g.

    • Carbon loading for WP: ~7.7%.

    • This WP version is more suited for large biomolecules (proteins, peptides) or very hydrophobic large compounds.

Strengths & Practical Implications

• Robustness + Longevity: Because of its pH stability, you can do regular acid or base cleaning, potentially increasing the column’s life.

• Good Efficiency: The low reduced plate height (~2.3) means good separation power without needing very small particles (which would increase back-pressure).

• Flexible Applications: Useful for pharmaceuticals, but also for other small molecule separations; less optimal for very large biomolecules unless you pick the wide-pore variant.

• Scale-Up Friendly: Since there is a preparative version, your method has a path to scale from analytical to prep.

• Quality Control: With validation report + controlled packing, you can rely on reproducibility between batches.