Fritting techniques in chromatography.

It is surprising that there has been no devoted review article for frits and relevant studies so far despite the long history of packed columns and the use of frits in them. This review was activated for such a reason. Both separate frits and in situ permanent frits have been covered since the appearance of primitive frits. The in situ fritting methods such as the formation of organic monoliths, sol-gel technology, sintering, fritless techniques such as tapered tip and capillary restrictors, and miscellaneous fritting techniques including magnetically trapped frits and single particle frits are introduced and discussed. In addition, frit-related studies and patents are also introduced. Finally, some conclusive comments on the choice of fritting technique in different situations and future perspectives are given.