Mobile Phase Buffers in Liquid Chromatography: The Buffer–Detector Battle

Buffered solutions that resist changes in pH are very important to various aspects of the practice of liquid chromatography. Unfortunately, the buffering additives that are best for chromatographic performance sometimes cause problems with detection, such as baseline drift and noise, or decreases in sensitivity. In this installment, I primarily discuss considerations to keep in mind when choosing buffering additives that will be used for LC methods involving UV absorbance detection. Keeping these ideas in mind at the start of the method development process can help prevent problems from developing during the lifetime of a new method, as well as help troubleshoot problems with existing methods that are buffer-related.