Recent Investments in Advanced Instrumentation Support Growth in Environmental Studies

Recent Investments in Advanced Instrumentation Support Growth in Environmental Studies

Published: 08/03/2021

Smithers has invested in new instrumentation at our Harrogate, UK and Wareham, USA laboratories to support residue chemistryenvironmental fate, metabolism, and ecotoxicology studies.

In Harrogate, our expert fate and metabolism staff are now using the Thermo Scientific™ Orbitrap Eclipse™ Tribrid™ with attached Vanquish™ Horizon 2D-UHPLC system that provides exceptional chromatographic resolution. This state-of-the-art accurate mass spectrometer enables Smithers to lead the way in metabolite ID with accurate mass (to the n). The additional 2D-UHPLC enables separation of isomers and isolation of co-eluting metabolites from complex matrices in animal and plant metabolism studies.

Also, in Harrogate the Sciex QTRAP™ 6500+ mass spectrometer combined with differential ion mobility technology, enables separation of isobaric species, elimination of background noise, isolation of challenging co-eluting contaminants, and analysis of some stereoisomers.

Smithers has expanded instrument capacity in Wareham by adding a second Sciex QTRAP 6500+, which includes a large-capacity rack changer to house over 500 samples for analysis.

The new Nexera™ LC-40 system in Wareham includes a Liquid Handler (fraction collector and injector in one), and both photodiode array and Beta-RAM 5 detectors. The 2D-HPLC system for environmental fate studies is designed to be highly multifunctional, allowing for multiple uses including 2D chromatography and fraction collection for purification.

This is not the typical “hard cut” 2-D system that allows for separating compounds from a single peak in the first dimension.  It employs sequential injections using the fraction collector, thereby allowing a second dimension of chromatography for multiple compounds from a single first injection. It accommodates “stacked injections,” which entails multiple injections on a column before initiating a gradient.  It is expected that this should enable the concentration of volatile components whose concentrations cannot be increased by evaporative techniques.

Contact us to learn how our team’s expertise in operating this advanced instrumentation can enhance your studies.
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