Trends in high performance liquid chromatography for Cultural Heritage

The separation, detection and quantitation of specific species contained in a sample in the field of Cultural Heritage requires selective, sensitive and reliable methods. Procedures based on liquid chromatography fulfil these requirements and offer a wide range of applicability in terms of analyte types and concentration range. The main applications of High Performance Liquid Chromatography in this field are related to the separation and detection of dyestuffs in archaeological materials and paint samples by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with suitable detectors. The relevant literature will be revised, with particular attention to sample treatment strategies and future developments. Reversed phase chromatography has also recently gained increasing importance in the analysis of lipid binders and lipid materials in archaeological residues: the main advantages and disadvantages of the new approaches will be discussed. Finally, the main applications of ion chromatography and size exclusion chromatography in the field of Cultural Heritage will be revised in this chapter.