Re: Buying FPLC system
David A. Schooley (schooley@unr.edu)
Thu, 23 Jul 1998 10:39:01 -0700
Dear Aki,
To my knowledge FPLC is a trademark of Pharmacia and no one else
can advertize an FPLC. However, as you intimate there are other
instruments around that will do everything an FPLC will do, and more, at a
lower price. I have two Perkin-Elmer 410 BIO systems, which have titanium
pumps, injectors, tubing, and flow cells (instead of the glass cylinders in
the low-medium pressure FPLC). They also have a flushable chamber (usually
containing water) behind the pump seal, a very clever way of dealing with
the problem of salt building up on the piston and damaging the pump seal.
I have had these units over nine years; they require new pump seals about
every other year. I believe they are the lowest maintenance LC's I have
ever owned from any manufacturer (quite a list!). Plus they give you HPLC
operation to 6,000 psi, unlike an FPLC, and they can be operated ina cold
room. These instruments use low pressure, quaternary mixing, which is
also a plus over the FPLC; EXCEPT that it introduces a 3 ml gradient dealy
volume so they are not that useful for columns under 4.6 mm ID. THESE
UNITS ARE DISCONTINUED, but I imagine that a newer P-E model has similar
capabilities.
For that matter, the H-P 1050, and presumably also the 1100,
could also be purchased with Ti components to give you the inertness to
salt that you get from Pharmacia.
>Our lab is looking to buy an new FPLC, and like to get some
>comments/recommendations on the FPLC systems on a market. I'd appreciate
>if anyone could let me know about it. Thanks in advance.
>
David
David A. Schooley
Dept. of Biochemistry/330
Univ. of Nevada
Reno, NV 89557
schooley@med.unr.edu
tel: (702) 784-4136; fax (702) 784-1419