We just tried to find the quantity of curcuminoids in curcuma if it was boiled before being turned into powder compared to not being boiled.
We tried to use the HPLC, but it seems that our samplesclogged the column. So we failed 😅.
For our abstract, we did look at other studies on the supposed benefits of curcuma, but none of them were rigorous enough to say that there is a benefit (for example, one study informed the people being tested if they got curcuma or anotherantiinflammatory medicine, which already biases the results)
We unclogged the column, but since it was clogging it up for each sample and it's quite damaging to the column, we decided to stop. Our budget was quite tight, since this was a school project.
All HPLC samples that i do, before putting them on column i filter them through short layer of silica to separate all the insoluble and entirely too polar crap
Additionally there's also short guard column before main column, so if something goes really fucking wrong it's the 2cm guard column that is to be replaced and not the 20cm main one
I work mostly with NP-HPLC so your situation might be a bit different, but the general principle is there