New Open-Access Method Toolbox Software from Shimadzu Offers High-Efficiency Method Development for Pharmaceutical Laboratories and CROs

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has released the Method Toolbox, the newest addition to its Open Solutions family of open-access software. Method Toolbox is purification method scouting software that assists with method optimization to increase the productivity of pharmaceutical laboratories and contract research organizations.

With the Method Toolbox, chemists can analyze up to 96 methods,16 mobilephase solvents and sixcolumns — all in one batch. This makes it easier to find the optimal separationconditions for fractionating synthetic compounds, thus increasinglaboratory throughput for compound isolation. Improvements in this process will increase the number and quality of new drug candidates.

Method Toolbox software automatically manages vials, fully cleans columns and cleans flow channels, allowing multiple analysts to confidently screen different samples at the same time.Column cleaning is performed automatically after screening the mobile phase in the column. Additionally, when either the mobile phase or column is switched, flow channel cleaning and column equilibration occur automatically.

In order to shorten column equilibration time and mitigate column degradation, each sample is run on the column of interest using the same mobile phase before moving to a new mobile phase of interest. This process increases the speed and efficiency of method development.

An automatic e-mail notifies users when the data report is ready for review, allowing them to select the optimal method as soon as the analysis is complete. With mass spectrometry peak tracking, chemists can quickly identify the optimal separation method because target compound peaks in chromatograms are color-coded in the data reports.