Autosampler or Sampler?

The words “Autosampler” and “Sampler” are often used as synonyms in Chromatography but their meaning is quite different.

In particular an autosampler “is commonly a device that is coupled to an analytical instrument providing samples periodically for analysis” (definition by WIKIPEDIA).

Instead, if we look for a definition of “sampler” in different authoritative dictionaries, a “sampler” can be: a person who samples, a representative selection of a larger group, an electronic device that digitally encodes and stores samples of sound, a piece of needlework embroidered with a variety of designs etc.

So, even if we exclude the last non-relevant meanings and stay in the analytical field, the word “sampler” is usually related to a physical person that manually performs the sampling operation and not to an automatic device.

So, we can conclude that the correct word for describing an automatic injector is autosampler.

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