Chromatography chips

Agilent Technologies has expanded its range of liquid chromatography chip/mass spectrometry modules, introducing five chips to study small and large molecules.

The technology combines nanoflow HPLC with an electrospray ionisation source in a reusable microfluidic chip, which is smaller than a credit card.

The first two HPLC-chips, the protein ID chip and the MS calibration and diagnostic chip, were introduced about a year ago.

The company has now developed five more chips to cover a wider range of applications.

The HPLC-chip/MS makes the sensitivity increases promised by nanospray LC/MS attainable by more researchers, thanks to eliminating half the fittings and connections of conventional nanoflow LC/MS systems

The protein ID chip #2 features a 40 nL enrichment column and 150 mm x 75 µm analytical column packed with Zorbax 300SB C18 5 µm.

The infusion chip is designed for applications requiring direct infusion or automated flow injection of the sample directly into the mass spectrometer at nanoflow rates for collecting MS and MS/MS data.

The small molecule chip, designed for pharmaceutical and other small molecule applications, contains a 40 nL enrichment column and 43 mm x 75 µm analytical column packed with Zorbax 80SB C18 5 µm.

The glycan chip, for use in oligosaccharide separation applications, can also be used for polar small molecules and structurally related compounds, such as geometric isomers and diastereoisomers. This chip features a 40 nL enrichment column and 43 mm x 75 µm analytical column packed with graphitised carbon.

Agilent will pack standard-layout HPLC-chips with customer-specified media and will also work with users to produce chips with custom layouts, features and functionalities.