Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry

HPLC (high-pressure liquid chromatography; high-performance liquid chromatography): A column chromatography technique using a solid stationary phase and a liquid mobile phase.


Schematic representation of a basic HPLC instrument. It consists of a solvent reservoir (holds solvent [the mobile phase] before pumping through the column), pump (pushes solvent through the instrument), sample inlet (place to inject the analyte), column (holds the stationary phase; place where separation occurs), and detector (analyzes column effluent for presence of sample).


A modern HPLC instrument.