The science of separation and means for the development of chromatographic methods have continued to encourge study by numerous groups around the world. Since 1970, a large body of new and valuable information has become available. This has led to important insights and improvements relating to chromatographic column and method development. Many of the pioneers in this field have moved on to other areas, such as capillary electrophoresis, liquid, gas, and supercritical fluid chromatography, and field-flow fractionation.

Liquid chromatography can be applied to a greater variety of samples than any other separation techniques and is applicable to the extremely complex mixtures that scientists encounter in pharmaceutical and biological systems. Methods used in chromatographic pharmaceutical analysis must be sufficiently accurate, specific, sensitive, and precise to conform to the regulatory requirements as set out in the relevant guidelines of “The International Conference of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use” (ICH), which are applied by the licensing authorities and by some pharmacopoeias. The implementation of concepts for rapid optimization should equally aid and support the planning of effective method development strategies as in daily practice at the laboratory bench.

Therefore, we invite authors to contribute original research articles as well as review articles in the following potential topics that include, but are not limited to:

• LC method development
• Chromatographic analysis of pharmaceuticals
• Analysis of biochemical samples: proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and related compounds
• Chiral separation
• Quality control in pharmaceuticals, impurities, metabolites, and degradation products
• Quantitation and method validation in chromatography