ABSTRACT
Over the course of the last decade two important trends can be traced in the development of liquid chromatography. The application of integrated electronics, microprocessor techniques in particular, led to the almost complete automation of chromatography. The other significant trend was reflected in the miniaturization of liquid chromatography. The importance of miniaturization in liquid chromatography is evident, first, in new and better possibilities in the field of analytic separation and in the field of trace analysis by liquid chromatography. Miniaturization makes it possible to design qualitatively new instruments. For instance, a chromatograph with the combined functions of sample injection and mobile-phase transport creates conditions for the construction of fully automated chromatographic analyzers. The prospects for the further development of miniaturization in liquid chromatography follow from theoretical analyses. As in other fields, miniaturization will penetrate the industrial production of liquid chromatographs when new analytic possibilities for miniaturized systems are available and in wide demand.
