Adequate retention of both moderately polar and highly polar analytes together in the same chromatographic run can be difficult when performing experiments such as untargeted metabolite profiling. Polar metabolites may also be phosphorylated or carboxylated, which increases the risk of unwanted interactions with the metal column surface. A new column offering announced by Waters Corporation aims to mitigate both problems with new stationary phase and hardware chemistries for hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC).
The Atlantis Premier BEH Z-HILIC columns feature an ethylene-bridged hybrid (BEH) organic/inorganic zwitterionic sulfobetaine stationary phase designed to improve retention of strongly polar and polar neutral compounds. The columns come in 1.7 μm, 2.5 μm and 5 μm particle sizes with a 95 Å pore size, have an operating pH range of 2-10 and are compatible with mass spectrometry (MS). In addition, the Atlantis Premier columns are built with MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces (HPS) technology designed to increase analyte recovery by eliminating unwanted surface interactions with metal-sensitive analytes.
Waters also offers the Atlantis Premier BEH C18 AX (Anion Exchange) column with the same HPS technology, 95 Å pore size and wide pH range. The BEH C18 AX columns are endcapped and designed for improved retention of polar acids. The Atlantis Premier columns are compatible with optional VanGuard FIT Guard Cartridges to help extend column lifetime.
Among the possible applications of these HILIC columns is the identification of pharmacodynamic efficacy and response biomaters in vivo after the administration of a drug molecule. The columns provide efficient and reproducible polar analyte separations for pharmaceutical development studies without the need to precondition the column to prevent surface interactions, according to Waters.