High-performance liquid chromatography is supposed to be complicated, right? Imagine trying to find the correct mobile phase, stationary phase, column length, diameter, particle size, solvent strength, buffer, pH, etc. But it is a lot simpler than people think. The majority of HPLC analyses can be accomplished on a good reversed phase column with the correct acetonitrile/water or methanol/water gradient. The major limitation is often our knowledge of HPLC fundamentals.