HILIC HPLC Columns

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is a powerful technique for separating polar and highly polar compounds that are poorly retained by reversed phase methods. HILIC columns create a water-enriched layer onto the stationary phase surface, enhancing interactions with polar analytes for improved retention and resolution. This makes HILIC chromatography particularly valuable for challenging applications, including metabolites, sugars, nucleotides, and other highly hydrophilic compounds. 

Our portfolio of HILIC columns includes a variety of stationary phases to suit different selectivity needs. Options range from traditional bare silica to bonded phases such as diol, amino, and zwitterionic, as well as HILIC amide columns offering excellent peak shape, short equilibration times, and high reproducibility. Whether you require a standard HILIC column for routine polar compound analysis or a specialised HILIC UHPLC solution for complex workflows, our selection is designed to deliver reliable, high-performance results across diverse applications. 

HILIC (hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) columns are used to separate polar compounds that are too hydrophilic to be retained by a typical reversed phase column. In HILIC mode, the water acts as the strong solvent, and the organic solvent acts as the weak solvent (the opposite to reversed phase chromatography). This avoids the need for older techniques such as derivatization, ion pairing, and normal phase HPLC.

There are a wide variety of polar stationary phases that work in HILIC mode, with many columns generically described as HILIC. The oldest and most widely available HILIC phase is bare silica. Various bonded phases, including diol, amino, and zwitterionic provide alternative selectivity and improved reliability. Newer HILIC phases offer short equilibration times, excellent resolution, and good peak shape.