High Pressure Liquid Chromatography!

[mechknoll]

Hi All,  I stumbled across a great deal on a used HPLC system.  the seller is getting rid of a UV/VIS detector its the UV2000 by SPECTRAsystem for $150, and a Varian tertiary pump with degasser, gradient maker, and several HPLC columns all for an additional $350!  So a total of $500 for a complete HPLC!   Is this a buy???  I have never done any HPLC but thought it would be a fun project to play with, and possibly resell in the future.   Also, any ideas of what I could test with this?  I suppose I could test soil samples for pesticides .

Thanks!

[G7PSK]

Blood tests?

[vindoline]

If it's in working condition it's an absolute steal! I'm not familiar with that particular system though. Keep in mind that there are many mechanical wear items in an HPLC system and quite a lot can go wrong. It's pretty specialized knowledge to set up and run one - I'm an organic chemist and I've used them for decades. One big issue will be the computer control interface and specialized software to run the system - you should see if this is included. Also, you could easily spend another $500 on the specialized s.s. tubing and fittings to plumb the instrument. You would also need access to high-purity water (about $75/4L) and acetonitrile (about $300/4L - typically buffered with trifluoroacetic acid) to actually run the system - then there's the disposal of the waste stream....

I suspect at this price, the unit is not functional anyway. It would be a really cool teardown. A couple of things: if you teardown the pumps, the pistons will look like glass rods. They're not - they're solid artificial sapphire! Also, the lamp in the UV detector will be a deuterium lamp that puts out high intensity UV (obviously!), be careful. Have fun!

[mechknoll]

Wow that is a lot of overhead to get the system operational.  Thanks for the insight.  I may just buy the detector assembly for $150.  The person who is selling the system offered a 30 day trial prior to receiving payment so I think it is functional.  He used to operate a pesticide testing facility for the EPA.  I have worked in optics for years and think the holographic monochromator and detection system is enough to peak my interest!

[mtdoc]

HPLC?  .....  my mind boggles with 25+ year old graduate school memories of hours spent trying to get HPLC assays working.... The horror, the horror. 

Seriously cool technology  - but for hobby use?   Can't see it. As mentioned, the reagents needed and associated wet lab equipment, disposal issues, etc --  seems out of reach for most hobbyists.  Maybe for the Ben Krasnows among us....

[indole]

I'd think that's a bargain, but then again I work with HPLCs, GCs etc every day and always wanted one for home :p.  I'm jealous haha.

High purity solvents are not necessarily needed, you could use distilled water from the store and filter it to 0.45um.   I suppose you can also use methanol from the auto store and also filter to 0.45um.   What are the column types, brand etc?  Hopefully they're C18 or similiar since that's reverse phase and means aqueous mobile phases.  If they're normal phase, you'll have to use a non-polar mobile phase such as hexane. 

Does the system include all the plumbing?  PEEK fittings and the ss tubing  can be expensive as it was pointed out before.

Can you find out what the Varian parts are?  I may be able to help if they're something from the ProStar family since that's what I work with.