Chemists using silica columns for normal-phase flash chromatography typically equilibrate their columns prior to loading their samples. Companies manufacturing automated flash purification systems often have the equilibration volume and flow rate pre-programmed and tied to a column size. Some of these flash system companies allow equilibration volume to be edited while others have the volume fixed.  Is one of these options better than the others? In this post I discuss how equilibration volume impacts flash chromatography results.

Have you ever been faced with the challenge of evaporating solvent from a reaction mixture where the target compound and perhaps some by-products are temperature sensitive and degrade or decompose with elevated heat? How do you efficiently accomplish this evaporation challenge?