News|Articles|October 12, 2026

Green Chemistry Meets Affinity Chromatography

LCGC International spoke to David Hage, Sanduni Heenkenda, and Zoe Zingler of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln about how green chemistry principles are reshaping affinity chromatography.

"Green chemistry" refers to the designing of chemical products and processes that create less hazardous waste—or avoid it altogether. Principles of green chemistry touch on items like cutting down waste, avoiding harm to people and the environment, using less energy, relying on renewable materials, simplifying chemical processes, saving time and money, and managing risk. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s interest in this topic increased in the early 1990s, and since then it's grown into a full research area focused on creating chemical processes that are safer for people and the planet, while also making economic sense.

Related to this article

Debunking Myths and Half-Truths in HPLC and Pharmaceutical Analysis
"Perspectives in HPLC" examines 5 long-held HPLC "rules" (mobile phase filtration, routine buffer use, avoiding pH near an analyte's pKa, defaulting to 4.6-mm columns, and relying on AI for early method development), showing with experimental evidence that each is conditional rather than universally true in modern small-molecule drug testing.