The benefit of the retrofitting of a conventional LC system to micro LC: A practical evaluation in the field of bioanalysis with fluorimetric detection

The interests in liquid micro-chromatography (higher column efficiencies, increase in sensitivity) are now well established. The enhancement of fluorimetric response induced by the reduction of the inner diameter of columns (4.6, 3.0, 1.0 and 0.3 mm respectively) coupled with adapted detection cells to control the loss of efficiency (8 μL for the two first columns and 100 nL for the two smaller ones) has been studied in the bioanalytical field, using the plasma determination of native fluorescent antibacterial agents: fluoroquinolones. Ten-fold enhancement of the signal can easily be obtained when substituting a 0.3 mm i.d. column and 100 nL detection cell for a 4.6 mm i.d. column, and 8 μL detection cell. In addition to inner diameter reduction, the detection cell geometry appears to be an essential parameter to obtain the best enhancement of the recorded signal. Hence, the enhancement of signal with micro-chromatography with fluorimetric detection appears to be a compromise between column inner diameter and flow cell volume reduction.