Understanding HPLC peaks on your analytical reports for research

Posted by graydev25 in COA and Purity Testing

Hey everyone I see a lot of folks getting confused when they look at high performance liquid chromatography data for the first time. That main tall peak you see usually represents your target compound purity percentage. Smaller secondary spikes are just minor impurities or residual synthesis byproducts which are totally normal in small amounts.

7 Comments

benchroom

Wait till people find out that mass spec data and HPLC tests measure totally different things. That trips up so many beginners in the lab.

saltwatch

Honestly I still get suspicious whenever a lab sheet shows a clean one hundred percent purity with zero secondary peaks. Nothing in chemistry is ever truly absolute.

compoundhands26

Honestly this is the exact post I needed months ago when I first started looking at lab sheets. Thanks for breaking it down so simply.

graydev25

So true, mass spec confirms the identity of the molecule by weight while HPLC tells you how much of it is actually in the vial.

quietx74

Totally agree with saltwatch. If it looks too good to be true it is probably just a generic stock image report recycled by a sketchy supplier.

salthands

Good looking out everyone. Time to go cross check all my old analytical reports.

molarstack35

Pro tip always check if the lab name on the header actually exists online and has a working phone number. Saved me from a bad batch last month.