Waters Corporation Advances Supercritical Fluid Chromatography with Industry First UPLC-Based SFC Analytical System

New ACQUITY UPSFC System, a Greener, More Economical, and Faster Alternative to Normal Phase HPLC for Chiral and Achiral Separations

Waters Corporation announced today the introduction of the Waters® ACQUITY UPSFC™ System, a holistically designed analytical system combining the advantages of sub-2-µm particle technology and the efficiency of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Built on proven Waters UltraPerformance LC® (UPLC®) technology, this new system offers up to 10X shorter run times, reduces solvent usage by as much as 95%, and cuts the cost of analyses by as much as 99% while giving laboratories a greener alternative to normal phase chromatography for chiral and achiral separations.

Waters ACQUITY® UPSFC System enables scientists to conduct normal phase chromatographic separations using carbon dioxide as the primary mobile phase rather than expensive and toxic solvents saving laboratories tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of an instrument.

“As the newest member of Waters family of ACQUITY systems, the ACQUITY UPSFC System provides the same impressive separation, resolution, and speed attributes of UPLC with the outstanding green benefits of SFC,” said Harbaksh Sidhu, General Manager, Waters SFC Operations.

Using specially designed Viridis™ Columns the ACQUITY UPSFC System offers the ruggedness and dependability scientists are looking for, with the ease of use they’ve come to expect from liquid chromatography. The system is fully compatible with Waters industry-leading Empower™ and MassLynx™ informatics software and Waters line of UV and mass detectors.

Performance at Its Peak

Supercritical fluids share the physical properties of both a gas and a liquid and exhibit the positive chromatographic qualities of both. Relative to HPLC solvents, their low viscosity and high solute diffusivity result in faster analysis times, lower backpressure, shorter re-equilibration times and higher throughput without loss in efficiency.

UPSFC technology consumes a fraction of the solvent of traditional HPLC systems. And compared to the cost of solvents like acetonitrile, commercial grade carbon dioxide is very inexpensive. Furthermore, CO2 costs nothing to dispose of, naturally reverting to its gaseous state. Inert and nonflammable, CO2 is non-toxic and safer for laboratory personnel to handle.

For laboratories seeking to cut costs and putting the principles of green chemistry into action, Waters ACQUITY UPSFC System offers impressive advantages and is an ideal choice as an alternative to normal phase chromatography.

For more information on Waters ACQUITY UPSFC System, go to the company article page.