High Pressure Liquid Chromatography is the mainstay of the pharmaceutical industry. Substances elute sequentially from the columns due to differing affinities for the stationary phases. These effluents are detected with either UV absorbance or with fluorescence. HPLC is used to determine the purity of medications and to quantify therapeutic components. It is also widely used in the flavor and environmental industries to analyze nonvolatile or thermally labile substances.
Injected samples pass through a column filled with beads on which there are ionic sites.
These sites serve as ion exchangers. Ions are separated based on their charge and size. Ion chromatography is a widely used technique for the analysis of ions in environmental samples. Electrochemical analysis is a widely used technique for analyzing substances in our bodies that can be easily reduced or oxidized. Since many biochemical processes involve redox reactions, there are many useful applications of these techniques.