New generation of equipment includes sample preparation, sample handling, filtration and liquid handling to a degree which previously was only possible with laboratory robots
The Capsule and Tablet Analysis System (CTAS) from Metrohm has been engineered specifically for constant use in critical pharmaceutical applications.
The rugged, reliable unit can prepare solid dosage samples in minutes, and stage up to 999 samples without operator intervention.
These systems are advantageous not just because of the amount of time saved by the laboratory personnel, but because automatic systems control operating sequences and improve reproducibility and accuracy.
The risk of operator errors is reduced to a minimum.
This new generation of equipment includes sample preparation, sample handling, filtration and liquid handling to a degree which previously was only possible with laboratory robots, but with the added advantage that such systems are off-the-shelf and are therefore price efficient.
Sophisticated sensor technology guarantees the highest possible degree of operational safety, says Metrohm.
Identical sample preparation and handling increases the reproducibility as does optimal rinsing.
Basic operations of modern automation such as pipetting, transferring, aliquoting, and dosing have become child's play, and mundane tasks such as homogenisation and dispersion of the samples can be fully controlled - the homogeniser speed can be altered, held, or pulsed whenever required.
Reproducibility and accuracy are the 'alpha and omega' in analysis, and therefore one of the main demands placed on automation.
CTAS ensures constant dosing, exact pipetting, complete transferring and perfect repeatability when dosing in the range comfortably from 1 microlitre up to 100 millilitres, ie over no less than four orders of magnitude.
Using this technology Metrohm says it has have developed a system to perform capsule and tablet processing.
Operation takes place from a PC using Metrohm's Tiamo software to givbe a top-class system with an extremely small footprint.
Demands such as those made by GMP or FDA 21 CFR Part 11 - to mention only the electronic signature and electronic data storage - are taken into account by the Tiamo software.
All FDA regulations are complied with by the complete integration of the USB sample processor with the software, so the system is gully FDA compliant.
This software package permits direct communications between the CTAS and third party instruments such as UV/vis and HPLC instrumentation.
This allows the single keyboard setup of an unattended sequence of standard readings, sample preparation and analysis.
The software can output to devices which can read Ascii, Excel, and XML for example.
