Alternative Cell Cleaning Procedures - Agilent Technologies 1260 Infinity User Manual

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Optimizing Performance
Optimizing RI Performance

Alternative Cell Cleaning Procedures

If buffers or solutions of high salt content have been in use, the cells may
be contaminated by precipitated salt. Flushing with large amounts of
distilled, deionized water at 1 mL/min, for up to several hours is the
simplest clean- up procedure. An elevated cell temperature will speed up
dissolution.
The water wash can be acidified if the precipitated salt is more soluble in
acidic solutions (do not exceed pH 2). However, do not use strongly basic
(pH 10 or higher) solutions, as these will etch the refractive index cell.
If contamination is suspected when a non- aqueous solvent is in use, flush
the cells with a solvent that is
• miscible with your mobile phase,
• a good solvent for the predicted contaminant.
A typical RI chromatogram is shown below.
Figure 22 Typical RI chromatogram
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