High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is basically a highly improved form of column liquid chromatography. Instead of a solvent being allowed to drip through a column under gravity, it is forced through under high pressures of up to 400 atmospheres. That makes it much faster. All chromatographic separations, including HPLC operate under the same basic principle; separation of a sample into its constituent parts because of the difference in the relative affinities of different molecules for the mobile phase and the stationary phase used in the separation. - See more at: http://laboratoryinfo.com/hplc/#sthash.CJaqYf7J.dpuf