It is not an industrial secrecy that most brand name products exhibit slightly acidic or basic surfaces. As the surfaces of these brand name columns are deactivated with either basic silane or acidic silane, these surfaces are bias inert to basic or acidic compounds. The methods of surface deactivation and processes employed by some column makers lack controllability, hence, the surfaces are not completely deactivated. In other words, they are not totally inert. As a result of non-neutral surface, some brand name columns are more or less limited in certain applications, such as the analyses of amine, sulfur, pesticides, environmental sample, and others. Non-neutral surface of a column not only produces inaccurate quantification but also sometimes produces small difference in separation and column selectivity. Abel has developed a proprietary surface deactivation technique to produce totally inert surface columns.


Fig 1, AB-1 MS surface
Fig 1 demonstrates totally inert surface of AB-1 columns. Acid (4-chlorophenol, RT 4.265min), base (decylamine, RT 5.355min) and alcohol (1-decanol, RT 12.447min) exhibit symmetric peak shapes. Both AB-1 and AB-5 columns have best neutrally inert surfaces fit all applications.