REPORT

Thermo Fisher Scientific transforms Chromatography by reimagining UHPLC

Ten selected international journalists were invited in Germering (Germany) for the launch of VanquishTM on July 11th 2014.

Fraser Mc Leod (Vice President and General Manager HPLC) and Wulf Niedner (Director HPLC Product Marketing) led us through an interesting tour of the factory and held a technical presentation on the new Thermo Scientific Vanquish UHPLC.

The new Thermo Scientific Vanquish UHPLC looks different from standard UHPLC systems, and there are benefits to its clean design. The monolithic case contains an instrument that combines the ruggedness of an integrated system with the flexibility and serviceability of a modular system. Vanquish stands about 25 percent lower than comparable modular stacks for safety and convenience in the laboratory.

“Rather than making incremental improvements to UHPLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific has designed this system from the ground up. The result is a system that combines advantages in separations performance, sample throughput, ease-of-use, reproducibility and method transfer efficiency,” said Fraser McLeod, vice president and general manager, HPLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Central to the Vanquish concept is the new family of Thermo Scientific Accucore Vanquish UHPLC columns, specially designed to optimize performance. The new columns feature 1.5 µm solid core particles utilizing Core Enhanced Technology to take full advantage of the Vanquish system’s 1500 bar (22,000 psi) maximum pump pressure and flow rate up to 5mL/min for ultra-short diffusion path lengths and highly efficient separations.

Other features add to the system’s performance, throughput and usability, including:

• SmartFlow pumping technology designed for highly reproducible retention times and low baseline noise to enhance detection sensitivity;
• Temperature control capabilities, including direct heating and forced air temperature control modules in the column compartment, further enhancing separation efficiency and selectivity, as well as retention time reproducibility;
• An insulated autosampler compartment with new air-to-air cooling, which protects vials from water condensation, even in hot and humid environments;
• Gold-standard Thermo Scientific Dionex Chromeleon Chromatography Data System, familiar in laboratories around the world, which can calibrate the system automatically and unattended. eWorkflow and Intelligent Run Control automation are designed to enhance data quality and instrument efficiency Instant data reprocessing paired with Cobra Peak Detection and Smart Link can speed data review significantly compared to manual procedures. Chromeleon software supports chromatography and mass spectrometry functions simultaneously.
• Optional handheld tablet lets users conveniently monitor system status, check runs and make changes.

For high sample throughput applications, the optional Thermo Scientific Vanquish Charger is a fully integrated robotic module that provides unattended, environmentally controlled sample management and loading into the Vanquish UHPLC system. It accommodates up to nine sample racks, deep well plates or 20 shallow well plates. This includes a bar code reader with empty shelf detection and rack/well plate verification. Users can add samples at any time, even while the instrument is operating, to enable maximum throughput and usability.

Hard carbon-coated ceramic injection valve and pump pistons are designed to deliver consistent, reproducible performance for 200,000 injections, further enhancing uptime by minimizing maintenance.

The Vanquish Diode Array Detector is designed to generate high-confidence data over a wide linear range with high signal-to-noise performance, beyond the capabilities of variable wavelength detectors. Low-dispersion 10 mm and 60 mm flow cells provide high sensitivity levels and wide linearity for demanding applications. Fused-silica LightPipe flow cells are designed to exploit low baseline drift for reproducible quantitation. Customers can acquire up to 10 signal channels simultaneously, and a spectrum 3D field at 200 Hz. Sensitivity, linearity, and spectral resolution can be tailored to suit the application using four programmable optical slit widths from 1 nm to 8 nm.

Chemistry Today wishes Fraser Mc Leod and Wulf Niedner every success with the rest of the work.

SILVIA BALDINA
Chimica Oggi – Chemistry Today
TKS Publisher





PRESHOW

NAMIBITECH
26-28 OCTOBER 2014
AL-AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY OF IFRANE, MAROCCO

General
The bi-annual Conference on Nano, Micro and Biotechnology Namibitech will be held on October 26-28, 2014 in Ifrane, Morocco. Contributions of scientists active in the mentioned fields are much welcome and active participation is appreciated.
A first initiative of this conference series, the MIFCAB workshop, was organized in November 2012 in Jordan and has attracted much attention from researchers since then. The MIFCAB and NaMiBiTech are traditionally held in the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA) region, yet attract and welcome speakers from all around the world.
NaMiBiTECH, as a follow up of the MIFCAB initiative, deals with Microfludics, Microreactor and Flow Chemistry topics in both bio and chemistry applications. NaMiBiTECH has an additional theme focusing on Nanomaterial and Catalytic Processes.

Conference chairs
Prof.dr. Evgeny Rebrov, Warwick University, United Kingdom
Prof.dr. Volker Hessel, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Dr. Mohamed Zourob, Cranfield University, United Kingdom

• Nanostructured materials
• Renewable energy and materials
• Catalytic processes
• Novel reactive media

• Flow chemistry
• Process miniaturization and intensification
• Sustainable and efficient manufacturing

• Microfluidics
• Sensor technology
• Bio-based technology
• Novel pharmacological processes

Abstract submission and publication opportunities
Abstracts (up to 2 pages) can be submitted by sending them to namibitech@gmail.com to be considered for an oral or poster presentation. Some additional key-note lectures may be selected from the submitted abstracts.
Abstract guidelines can be found on the conference website under tab “Abstract submission” (www.namibitech.org). Please indicate the preferred platform /topic and the preferred form of presentation (oral, poster).

The abstract submission deadline – 15st August 2013
Acceptance notification – 15st September 2013

All accepted abstracts will be distributed (also digitally) to the participants at the registration. After the event, double-refereed selected papers will be published in the Green Processing and Synthesis journal (De Gruyter). Only papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication.

Registration and fees
Registering can be done by submitting your personal and contact details, institution and conference contribution (participant or sponsor) to namibitech@gmail.com. You will be contacted soon with information on the fee payment procedure. Registration fees can be found under the following link: http://www.namibitech.org/registration.html

Venue and location
NaMiBiTech conference will be hosted by the Akhawayn University Ifrane at the University Campus site. Founded in 1993, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane opened its doors to students in January 1995. Based on the principles of diversity and an international outlook, the university’s mission is driven by values of human solidarity and tolerance. Al Akhawayn University has adapted its administrative, pedagogical, and academic organization to the American university system, and English is the language of instruction. Recently Al Akhawayn University has enlarged and strengthened its Engineering Programs and has currently provided various Technology programs (see http://www.aui.ma/en/).

Hotels for accommodation in Ifrane will be proposed to the participants shortly. Information hereon will be presented on the website.

Contact
http://www.namibitech.org/namibitech@gmail.com