Teaching Fundamentals of Liquid Chromatography using a Web-Based Simulator

Thursday, March 11, 2021: 1:50 PM - 2:10 PM

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Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for students and instructors engaged in courses involving learning about chromatographic separations. These challenges have highlighted the value of web-based and other electronic media for simulation of complex phenomena such as those involved in chromatography. Over the past decade we have developed and refined a web-based, interactive HPLC simulator for reversed-phase separations. This tool is quite sophisticated in that it allows students to immediately observe the consequences of changes in several operating parameters in both the isocratic and gradient elution modes: flow rate, particle size, column length, column temperature, mobile phase composition, and type of organic modifier. Chromatograms are generated based on pre-loaded input data from actual experimental retention measurements at different mobile phase compositions, temperatures, and with different modifier types. This tool is freely available at www.multidlc.org/hplcsim, and the authors of this presentation and several collaborators have developed a series of homework assignments that demonstrate ways in which the simulator can be used in a variety of different courses. In this presentation we will share our observations of student learning gains as a result of using this tool, and summarize the ways we have used it in different courses. In situations where class (laboratory) time and instrument resources are limited – or entirely absent due to the pandemic - we believe this tool can significantly augment classroom discussion. However, when time and resources permit, hands-on experience is still the best way to develop an in-depth understanding of how separations and the associated instrumentation work.

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Additional Info

Keywords: Please select up to 4 keywords ONLY:
Chromatography - Other,Teaching