Waters nanoACQUITY UPLC Columns - Manual (Page 3)

[ Care and Use ManUal ]
nanoACQUITY UPLC Column Care and Use 3
Carefully grab the teflon tubing with one hand and the BARE FUSED
SILICA capillary, not the PEEK tubing, with the other hand, to remove
the Teflon sleeve. Again, be careful NOT to put unnecessary force
when removing the teflon tubing which could cause the fragile joint
between transfer tube and packed capillary to separate.
B: CONNECTION
 Connecting and proper tightening of 75, 100, or 150 µm,
nanoACQUITY columns to 10 K UPLC system
 Flow mobile phase only in the direction indicated by the arrow on the
column label. Connect the column with the direction of the flow arrow
on the label pointing to the detector or Mass Spectrometer.
1. For a column never installed on a nanoACQUITY system
 Turn nut till snug then an additional 1/2 turn
2. For a previously installed and removed column from
a nanoACQUITY system
 Hand tight plus 1/8 turn
“Hand Tight” is when the ferrule bottoms in the M-detail fitting. The
ferrule is pre-staked higher than necessary on the tube, so the ferrule
must be seated by hand (hand tight) or lightly with a wrench, then
an additional turn. Note: In virtually every case, gentle wrenching is
required to get to the “hand tight” state before the final half turn.
Taking “hand tight” or “finger tight” too literally can result in under
tightening/leaks.
Note: DO NOT over tighten, the leak rate will increase and the ferrule
may get stuck in the port
IV. PreParIng and ConneCtIng
300 µm nanoaCQuIt Y CaPIllarY Columns
• Carefully remove column from box
• Connect the column inlet to the injector utilizing a Valco style
compression screw
• Connect the column outlet to the detector or Mass Spectrometer
using a Valco style compression screw.
V. Care when stoPPIng flow to Column
• Do not stop the flow to your nanoACQUITY column suddenly. It is
critical that the flow be slowly lowered via the nanoACQUITY system
controller to prevent column damage.
VI. how to dIagnose and address abnormallY
hIgh baCkPressure and leaks
 The inlet or the head of a chromatography column experiences the
largest amount of pressure in a LC system. The nanoACQUITY column
inlet is designed to operate at pressures up to 10 K psi.
 The fluidic pressure drops across the column at the outlet of the column
should only experience atmospheric pressure. The outlet connection
which connects the column to the transfer capillary is designed to
handle a maximum pressure of 800 psi.
 With a higher than normal system pressure, a small leak might be
detected at the outlet of a nanoACQUITY column (see below).
Leak at column outlet
Column Union Transfer tubing
Ferrule Nut
Wrong Correct