Jonathan Crowther

With the forthcoming USP monograph <1058>, many laboratories are in the process of reexamining their high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrumentation qualification practices. This article demystifies the qualification procedures and proposes a well designed, easy and simple set of experiments upon which to establish internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the complete qualification of HPLC instruments. A key concept is the development of a consistent test system, comprised of premade test solutions, a prequalified HPLC column, standardized protocols, and validated software that can be prepared in-house or purchased commercially as a kit. This system can be applied to any HPLC system worldwide, to produce comparable test results under uniform conditions. The test system is designed to be rapid, with a comprehensive performance qualification being completed in about 2 h for isocratic, and 3 h for quaternary gradient systems.

This article demystifies the qualification procedures and proposes a well designed, easy and simple set of experiments upon which to establish internal standard operating proceduresfor the complete qualification of HPLC instruments.