UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography Ushered in at Pittcon

Waters Corporation has released several important new technologies and a new business venture at Pittcon 2012, one of the industry’s most important annual new product conference and exhibition.

Topping Waters technology introductions is Waters^® ACQUITY UPC2™ System, a new category of separations science instrumentation that gives laboratories previously unavailable options for tackling tough analytical challenges.

Waters also unveiled NuGenesis^® 8 featuring LE (Laboratory Execution) Technologies, a comprehensive data management and workflow solution that more effectively connects organizations’ analytical laboratory data systems to their business information technology systems.

In addition, Waters launched a new product line of analytical standards and reagents consisting of an initial portfolio of more than 200 pre-formulated reference materials and reagents for the scientific laboratory. The introductions reflect customer demands for greater problem-solving capability, greater efficiency, and certifiable data quality.

“This is the 53rd year for Waters at Pittcon. It is still the signature event of the year for Waters and for our industry. No other event can compare to it in terms of the scale of innovation one sees on the exposition floor and in terms of the opportunity to interact with customers and educate new generations of scientists in the art and science of analytical chemistry,” said Art Caputo, President of the Waters Division. “The launch of UPC2, NuGenesis 8 and our new line of analytical standards and reagents make this year’s Pittcon one of the most exciting in years for us.”

Waters has ushered in a new category of separation science with the introduction of Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System which expands the boundaries of reversed phase liquid chromatography (LC) and of gas chromatography (GC) separations and offers a replacement option for normal phase chromatography applications. Employing the principle of UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography™ (UPC2), Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System is a novel analytical system that gives laboratories an indispensable tool for tackling tough-to-analyze compounds including hydrophobic and chiral compounds, lipids, thermally-labile samples and polymers.

“ACQUITY UPC2 took on every challenge we threw at it. At one point, we ran a very challenging 18-compound mixture, including amines, vitamin isomers, steroids, and antibacterial agents – all in one mixture,” said Harbaksh Sidhu, UPC2 Program Director, Waters Division. “The results were astounding. We saw repeatability, narrow, consistent peak widths, all in a gradient mode of operation with extremely low baseline noise. The low system volume along with small particle size column is the result of a holistic design that unlocks the benefits of using compressed CO2 that have never been realized before. As someone who's been working with this technology for more than 18 years, I had never witnessed this level of performance before.”

Compressed carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary mobile phase for UPC2, offers numerous major advantages over liquid mobile phases or carrier gases that are used with LC and GC. For one, CO2 alone, or combined with a co-solvent, is a low viscosity mobile phase that achieves higher diffusion rates and enhanced mass transfer than liquids used in HPLC. For another, when compared to GC, CO2 alone is a mobile phase that allows separations to occur at a much lower temperature.

Scientists can routinely separate compounds that are less amendable to analysis by LC and GC including molecules having a wide range of polarities.

Along with the sub two-micron particle technology column chemistries, Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System gives scientists the ability to precisely vary mobile phase strength, pressure, and temperature. With this ability to fine-tune the resolving power and selectivity of the system, scientists can exercise better control over the retention of analytes for separating, detecting and quantifying structural analogs, isomers, and enantiomeric and diasteriomeric mixtures – all compounds that are often a challenge to separate by any other means. A key benefit of the Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System is the use of inexpensive and non-toxic compressed CO2 as a primary mobile phase that can take the place of toxic and volatile organic solvents that are extremely expensive to purchase and dispose.

New Analytical Standards and Reagents Business

After years of formulating calibrants and reference materials for its own high-performance LC and LC/MS systems, Waters has introduced a new line of analytical standards and reagents for LC and LC/MS being manufactured at a new, purpose-built facility in Golden, Colorado that opened in January of this year. From this facility, Waters now offers more than 200 pre-packaged, pre-measured, ready-to-use standards and reagents to its worldwide customer base.

“Through our own surveys we know that 90 percent of scientists performing LC or LC/MS analyses use standards and reagents on a daily basis. And it’s staggering how much time scientists devote to formulating their own standards, buffers and reagents from starting materials purchased from numerous suppliers,” said Mike Yelle, Senior Director, Chemistry Commercial Operations, Waters Division. “Yet until now, there has not been a single-source provider of ready-to-use, certified standards and reagents designed specifically for LC and LC/MS systems. We want to be that single-source provider.”

Now scientists can single-source everything they need from Waters; from pre-formulated, small molecule, single-component standards to multi-component test mixes to protein digest and glycan standards. Over time, the company will add new products to its portfolio in response to customer demands.

For Waters customers, ready-to-use analytical standards and reagents means they first get absolute traceability through an unbroken chain of documentation traceable all the way back to the original source materials so that lab managers and auditors can evaluate the quality of chemical measurements. Secondly, Waters analytical standards and reagents stand for precise formulation – every time – which greatly reduces a source of variability, from analysis to analysis, instrument to instrument, and from laboratory to laboratory.

Connecting Science and Business with Laboratory Execution Technologies

Waters NuGenesis 8 featuring LE (Laboratory Execution) Technologies is a comprehensive data management and workflow solution that more effectively connects organizations’ analytical laboratory data systems to their business information technology systems.

“Perhaps the biggest informatics challenge our customers face is too many software products,” said Mary Ellen Goffredo, Senior Director of Systems Marketing, Waters Division. “There are software products for every analytical instrument that generates data, as well as office applications supporting databases, spreadsheets, and word processing documents – all of which are required to effectively run a laboratory. With so many software applications, science-driven organizations lack the ability to collect, process, consolidate and distribute laboratory data freely and efficiently. NuGenesis 8 enables global scientific organizations to stay informed, standardize processes, and implement best practices across laboratories, across borders, and across continents. It means greater efficiency, easier compliance, and better-informed business decisions.”

Key to NuGenesis 8 is its newly developed LE Technology, a documentation and workflow solution that guides the laboratory analyst through routine method standard operating procedures. At their workstations, laboratory analysts are presented with electronic worksheets that step them through the prescribed workflow, ensuring that they complete every step and verifying that all input meets established criteria. The information they generate is then collected and shared with the QC organization and business systems, such as LIMS and ERP.
In addition to featuring LE Technology, NuGenesis 8 provides access to a suite of information management technologies, including sample management. Using NuGenesis Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN), laboratories can track, assign, and manage samples, tests, and results. The user-centric design revolves around both laboratory managers, who seek metrics about the laboratory workload, as well as analysts who need a convenient overview of pending tasks and the status of in- process tests. The result is a more efficiently run laboratory.

A First Pittcon for Other Waters Products

The following Waters products will also make their Pittcon debut in Orlando:

• MV-10 ASFE System - The first supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) system to extract samples from up to 10 extraction vessels in a semi-automated fashion using supercritical CO2 as the primary extraction solvent.
• BEH125 SEC Columns - New UPLC® SEC columns complement our existing ACQUITY UPLC BEH200, SEC 1.7 mm series targeted for biomolecules between 10,000 and 450,000 Daltons. With Waters SEC Columns, you get improved component resolution in less time compared to use of traditional, HPLC-based separations using SEC particles of 4 mm and greater.
• TruView LCMS Certified Vials - TruView™ LC/MS Certified Vials are for scientists working at low analyte concentrations, are concerned with analyte loss due to adsorption and require a clean vial for MS analytical results. Unlike standard vials used today, TruView vials are the only vials tested and certified for low analyte adsorption at 1 ng/mL.
• eXtended Performance [XP] 2.5 mm Columns - XBridge™ and XSelect™ eXtended Performance [XP] 2.5 mm Columns are high efficiency, low backpressure HPLC columns that can be easily utilized across all HPLC, UHPLC, and UPLC Technology platforms. XP 2.5 mm Columns bridge the gap between HPLC and UPLC and provide equivalent backpressure and superior performance to superficially-porous HPLC columns. XP 2.5 mm Columns offer unmatched selectivity choices with three fully-scalable particle substrates (high strength silica, ethylene bridged hybrid, and charged surface hybrid), 14 chemistries (C18, Phenyl-Hexyl, C8, Shield RP18, HILIC, Amide, Fluoro-Phenyl, Cyano, and PFP), and over 180 column configurations.
• SQ Detector 2 - The SQ Detector 2 is the ultimate mass detector for ACQUITY UPLC, UPC2, HPLC, and GC, as well as preparative HPLC and SFC. Our Engineered Simplicity™ design philosophy ensures every analyst can consistently generate the highest quality data with minimal training.
• Xevo TQD - Xevo® TQD is a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer for quantitative UPLC/MS/MS applications. The robust universal ion source architecture available with Xevo TQD ensures dependability, while improving a flexible platform to accommodate ever-changing sample types.
• SYNAPT G2-S - SYNAPT® G2-S enables scientists to access the highest levels of information from your most analytically challenging samples. You can now make scientific discoveries not possible by any other means. Reach beyond the boundaries of conventional mass spectrometry and access an extra dimension of high-efficiency ion mobility separation.