External services

Pigment analysis

Service presentation

The Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) service is primarily used for analysing various sources of organic liposoluble pigments: water column samples, biofilms and sediments. However, the facility can potentially be used for many other applications, upon demand.

Techniques

UHPLC is a separative analytical technique which, following the same principles as HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), significantly reduces analysis time without sacrificing sensitivity and resolution.

Equipment and features

ACQUITY ULTRA PERFORMANCE LC System (Waters Corporation, USA) with PDA and Fluorescence detectors, along with a sample concentrator.

Applications

Liposoluble pigment analysis is currently routinely performed for studies on seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton, characterisation of phytoplankton and biofilm communities, or paleoecological studies.

However, the equipment and techniques of the service could potentially be used in many other applications, upon demand, in fields such as environmental sciences, ecology, pharmacology, biomedical research, forensic chemistry, antidoping, the chemical industry and the food industry.

Information for users

The service is available to all researchers from the CEAB and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), as well as to researchers from other institutions and private companies.

Internal staff, whether from the centre or temporarily attached to it, also have access to the other laboratories (without associated service).