Waters Family of ACQUITY UPLC Solutions Extend the Power of LC Performance Today and Tomorrow

MILFORD, Mass., March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Riding its successful launch of the Waters® ACQUITY UPLC® H-Class System incorporating the proven, robust and reliable performance of ACQUITY® UltraPerformance LC® (UPLC) with the operational familiarity of traditional high performance liquid chromatography, Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) today kicked off its 50th Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) focused on its industry-leading family of UPLC solutions.

Reinforcing the impact of ACQUITY UPLC technology's application range, scientists from AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly presented their real-life success stories working with Waters ACQUITY UPLC System and Waters PATROL™ UPLC System respectively, at Waters' annual Pittcon news conference.

"The response to the new ACQUITY UPLC H-Class system introduced in late January has been tremendous, not only because of the system attributes but also because of its overall impact on the UPLC family," said Dr. Rohit Khanna, Vice President Worldwide Marketing for the Waters Division. "Early feedback from customers is that this system provides a powerful bridge for customers who currently rely on HPLC but want the performance of UPLC today and in the future.  With the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class gaining momentum, Waters' ability to provide a single, powerful LC platform from R&D to manufacturing is unmatched industry wide."

As the newest member of the UPLC family, the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class system combines performance, simplicity and flexibility to help more laboratories realize the scientific and business benefits of sub-2-um (micron) particle column technology. Beyond improving chromatographic performance when running UPLC columns as well as fully supporting HPLC columns, the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class system closely emulates HPLC workflows, making method transfer from HPLC to UPLC easier and more seamless. Furthermore, the introduction of this system allows organizations to standardize their approach to LC with a common technology platform that makes the future transition from HPLC- to UPLC-based methods straightforward and practical - from compound discovery to product release.  

New Chemistries for UPLC and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

At Pittcon 2010, Waters is exhibiting an array of new column chemistries for UPLC-based analytical solutions for the characterization of biomolecules including glycoproteins, proteins and their aggregates, monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins.

For the characterization of 2-AB labeled glycans from glycoproteins, Waters is combining its ACQUITY UPLC BEH Glycan Columns with the ACQUITY UPLC System equipped with fluorescence detection. Current FDA regulations require that firms developing and manufacturing therapeutic proteins are able to accurately characterize the glycans attached to those proteins to ensure the efficacy and safety of a biopharmaceutical product.

Waters is introducing this solution at the request of scientists seeking to apply the power of UPLC technology to characterize the glycosylation of therapeutic proteins during their development.

For the analysis of intact biomolecules, including monoclonal antibodies and their aggregates, and recombinant proteins, Waters is introducing a new family of Protein-Pak™ Hi Res Ion-Exchange (IEX) Columns. This new column family consists of one anion-exchange -quaternary ammonium - column chemistry and two cation-exchange column chemistries – a carboxy methyl and a sulfopropyl - each contained on monodisperse, non-porous particles.  The unique multi-layered network of ion-exchange functional groups on the particles results in high sample loading capacities for proteins not found with the use of typical non-porous particle IEX offerings.

For separating and quantifying monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and their aggregates in less than four minutes, Waters is introducing the new patent–pending ACQUITY UPLC BEH200, 1.7 um SEC Columns for the Waters ACQUITY UPLC System.

Waters' new ACQUITY UPLC SEC solution makes it faster and easier for manufacturers to achieve high-quality data that meets FDA requirements for quantifying protein aggregates suspected of being capable of producing an immunogenic response in certain patients.

Rounding out Waters' new column offerings, Viridis™ SFC Columns represent a new family of analytical and preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) columns and are a first for Waters. The Viridis SFC columns were developed to give laboratories a reliable source of high-quality SFC columns for compound purification. Paired with Waters SFC systems, and extending our full range of Waters' patented Optimum Bed Density (OBD ™) columns for HPLC systems, laboratories now have even more choices for both instrumentation and columns for their all-important HPLC and SFC purification work.

Viridis columns are initially available in two chemistries: 2-ethylpyridine and silica. Waters Viridis SFC Columns are manufactured by Waters ISO 9000 facilities under comprehensive quality guidelines and feature the company's patented preparative Optimum Bed Density (OBD™) technology, designed to produce mechanically stable columns with longer lifetimes.

Automated On-line SPE with the performance of UPLC

High throughput chromatography laboratories are tasked with analyzing large numbers of samples, each typically requiring off-line solid phase extraction (SPE).  Today, Waters is introducing an alternative to this off-line SPE process by combining the benefits of UPLC separating power with on-line, automated SPE. A UPLC-based system with on-line SPE Technology can streamline the analysis of samples by providing analyte extraction, concentration, separation, and detection in one turnkey solution.  Automated sample handling, proprietary column chemistries, and ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry detection have been combined into an on-line SPE/LC/MS/MS solution that requires only a fraction of the typical sample volume while the sensitivity of the system exceeds the limits set by most regulatory bodies.  With the integrated UPLC-based system, the time required for preparation and analysis, once measured in hours, has been reduced to minutes.

Scientific Presentations

Waters will contribute to Pittcon's program with an impressive variety of oral and poster sessions, as well as symposia that provide the ideal environment to share knowledge, expertise and application approaches to solving analytical challenges. Waters will also host 15 educational seminars given by leading scientists over the first three days of the conference.  A complete list of Waters' presentations and seminars can be found at www.waters.com/pittcon.  For more information on Waters and its products or a schedule of Waters' education seminars at Pittcon 2010, please visit Waters booth #3155.

About Waters Corporation (www.waters.com)

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) creates business advantages for laboratory-dependent organizations by delivering practical and sustainable innovation to enable significant advancements in such areas as healthcare delivery, environmental management, food safety, and water quality worldwide.

Pioneering a connected portfolio of separations science, laboratory information management, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis, Waters' technology breakthroughs and laboratory solutions provide an enduring platform for customer success.

With revenue of $1.5 billion in 2009 and 5,200 employees, Waters is driving scientific discovery and operational excellence for customers worldwide.

Waters, ACQUITY, UltraPerformance LC, ACQUITY UPLC, OBD, Viridis, Protein-Pak, PATROL, and UPLC are trademarks or registered trademarks of Waters Corporation.

SOURCE Waters Corporation