Automated preparative HPLC system

Figure 4. Schematic diagram of an automated preparative HPLC system.

The application of preparative and scale up chromatography and the strategies for the development of process chromatography as a unit operation will be discussed in detail. The development and application of an automated preparative HPLC system for purification of small amounts of research compounds by the chemists themselves will be also described. 

The Bristol-Myers Squibb group has reported an automated preparative HPLC system capable of processing dozens to hundreds of samples in unattended mode [15]. The system requires customized hardware and software and is not commercially available. The same group reported very rapid gradient reverse phase methods for purifying up to 200 mg of... 

Searle, P. An Automated Preparative HPLC-MS System for the Rapid Purification of Combinatorial Libraries, presented at The Strategic Institute Conference High-Throughput Compound Characterization, Dallas, TX, March, 1998. 

On-line coupled sample preparation/separation/iden-tification systems (e.g. SFE-GC, PFE/automated evaporation/HPLC). 

Wagner, K., Miliotis, T., Marko-Varga, G., Bischoff, R., Unger, K.K. (2002). An automated online multidimensional HPLC system for protein and peptide mapping with integrated sample preparation. Anal. Chem. 74, 809-820. 

The Gilson Aspec automatic sample preparation system is a fully automated system for solid-phase extraction on disposable columns and online HPLC analysis. The Aspec system offers total automation and total control of the entire sample preparation process including clean-up and concentration. In addition, Aspec can automatically inject prepared samples into on-line HPLC systems. 

There are four basic system types. Type I are basic isocratic systems used for simple, routine analysis in a QA/QC environment often for fingerprinting mixtures or final product for impurity/yield checking. Type II systems are flexible research gradient systems used for methods development, complex gradients, and dial-mix isocratics for routine analysis and standards preparation. They fit the most common need for an HPLC system. Type III systems are fully automated, dedicated systems used for cost-per-test, round-the-clock analysis of a variety of gradient and isocratic samples typical of clinical and environmental analysis laboratories. Type TV systems are fully automated gra-... 

Another feature of modern HPLC systems that makes them desirable for both analytical and preparative applications is the complex mobile-phase gradients that they are capable of producing. Many systems come equipped with a pump integrator or controller (computer) that allow a number of different mobile-phase solvents to be simultaneously mixed and delivered to the stationary phase. Since this process is automated, complex gradients used for a particular application are quite reproducible. 

L. Zeng, and D. B. Kassel, Developments of a fully automated parallel HPLC/mass spectrometry system for the analytical characterization and preparative puriflca-tion of combinatorial libraries, Anal. Chem. 70 (1998), 4380-4388. 

The utilization of sequential injection analysis coupled with HPLC systems increases the reliability of an HPLC analysis considerably because the primary factor that contributes to the increasing uncertainty is the sample preparation. It is always necessary to look to the most reliable methods for sample preparation, because only these methods will give the best results after the automation by using sequential injection analysis. The best coupling must be concerned with the selectivity and sensitivity assured by a sequential analysis system and by the selectivity and sensitivity of the HPLC technique. The introduction of bead injection considerably improves the reliability of the discussed system. 

L Zeng, L Burton, K Yung, B Shushan DB Kassel. Automated analytical/preparative HPLC-MS system for the rapid characterization and purification of compound libraries. J Chromatogr 794 3—13, 1998. 

Profile Gilson is a manufacturer of specialized analytical instrumentation for scientific research and industrial markets since the early 1950s. The company has developed software and instrumentation for HPLC, LC, and sample preparation technologies. It also produces high-precision pipettes and tips and automated instruments and systems for increasing throughput and productivity in the laboratory. 

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