So now let’s talk about the big application and that is the pharmaceutical industry and chromatography.
Pharmaceutical industry is huge in chromatography because in that industry they must by law analyze their raw materials to prove that there’s nothing bad in it.
They must analyze their intermediates to prove that there’s nothing bad there and they must analyze their final product to prove that they put in the correct amount of material and that there’s no impurities. So at every step along the way the pharmaceutical industry relies on chromatography.
HPLC Applications In Pharmaceuticals
Now most pharmaceuticals are soluble. If anything is soluble then we run them by hplc. By definition, if a pill or a drug is meant for a human being it must be water soluble. I’m made out of water. I’m 70% water so it better be water soluble. It better be able to dissolve in the stomach or in the intestines. If it is soluble then we want to run hglc on it.
GC Applications In Pharmaceuticals
We do have big GC applications in the pharmaceutical industry as well. In fact one of the more troublesome things that pharmaceutical people deal with is residual volatiles left over in their pharmaceuticals. The way the FDA looks at it is they say hey we know somewhere along the way you had volatile compounds. You had some hexane in your reaction. You have to prove that it’s all gone. So to do volatiles in a non-volatile product is a little challenging. We use a technique called headspace gas chromatography.
The petroleum industry may have been responsible for starting chromatography but in my opinion the pharmaceutical industry is the industry that is keeping it going. It is our biggest customer and some of the most challenging applications. If you need help in pharmaceutical analysis you know where to come.
We’ve been helping people for decades and we would love to help you as well here at axion.
