ACD/Labs and Supelco join forces to design generic chromatographic methods for the walk-up and high-throughput laboratory
Advanced Chemistry Development (ACD/Labs) and Supelco, a subsidiary of Sigma-Aldrich, have collaborated to design complementary analytical scale methods that cover the widest range of compound space possible within the confines of typical biologically active compounds.
Twelve methods, available through the ChromGenius generic method selection tool, were determined through a study examining the design of chromatographic methods in order to sufficiently treat the majority of expected compounds in a given organisation.
Using four Supelco columns that targeted different selectivity and retentivity, and three solvent systems, the twelve method conditions were established and characterised using a series of diverse, biologically-relevant compounds.
About 1000 experimental retention times were used to train the ChromGenius system, which is designed to learn from experimental results and then predict chromatographic behavior for other compounds under Supelco's, or other, standard chromatographic conditions.
Once trained, the methods were virtually tested for the breadth of their applicability using 5000 compounds randomly selected from the National Cancer Institute database, says ACD/Labs.
Of the 5000 compounds, 98.6% could be treated with one of the twelve methods, demonstrating that by using the complementary methods, reasonable retention times could be expected for the large majority of compounds in walk-up and high-throughput laboratories.
Prior to this study, the most common application of ACD/ChromGenius has been to select between two chromatographic methods built for either hydrophilic or hydrophobic compounds.
While a viable approach, there are cases when neither method is entirely appropriate, especially when considering resolution from expected impurities as part of the selection objectives.
The new methods created using the Supelco columns can be used to now more accurately determine the most effective HPLC method.
David Bell, applications laboratory supervisor, liquid separations business unit at Supelco, states: "The combination of standard methods, differing stationary phase chemistries and powerful software to manage data, promises to be a valuable tool for high-throughput laboratory professionals.
"The driving principle is to provide a means of selecting the method conditions that have the greatest probability of providing the right HPLC analysis the first time".
Mike McBrien, chromatography product manager at ACD/Labs, adds, "This unique study is an excellent example of the value of combining structure-based prediction with careful method design.
"We look forward to some very exciting future results from this ongoing project."
