New HPLC and MS Products Introduced in 2019-2020

If you missed Pittcon 2020 this year in Chicago and are interested in new HPLC and MS products introduced there and in the prior year, please download the digital version of LCGC North American April Issue just published via the following Link.

http://files.alfresco.mjh.group/alfresco_images/pharma//2020/04/01/3b76e434-3205-4c80-82a4-a70f76d160b3/LCGC_NAmerica_April2020.pdf

Here are the reference and a synopsis of the article.

M. W. Dong, New HPLC Systems and Related Products Introduced in 2019-2020: A Brief Review, LCGC North Am. 38 (4), 220-228, 2020.

 New HPLC Systems and Related Products Introduced in 2019-2020: A Brief Review

By Michael W. Dong

Abstract

This installment describes newly introduced high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), mass spectrometry (MS), chromatography data systems (CDS), and related products at Pittcon 2020 and the year prior. It summarizes their significant features and user benefits.

Introduction

The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) is one of the world’s largest conferences on laboratory science. The 72nd Pittcon was held at McCormick Place in Chicago from February 29 to March 5, 2020, a week before to the semi-shutdowns of Europe and North America from the spreading Covid-19. Previous ones in Chicago were in 2014 and 2017 in rotation every three years as the most frequent venue for Pittcon. Chicago is an industrial, agricultural, financial, transportation, and communication center, as well as the 3rd largest city in the U.S. The city has 2.7 million residents, and the Greater Chicago area boasts a population of 9.5 million. Chicago is home to 69 of the 1,000 most prominent companies in the U.S., which include Boeing, Abbott Labs, Caterpillar, and Kraft Foods. Nevertheless, one potential issue for this location is the unpredictable weather of this midwestern city near the Great Lakes in early March. We were lucky this year with moderate temperatures with no precipitations though the meeting attendance was reduced due to travel bans.

The technical program remained strong this year with 200 plus technical sessions, plenary lectures, invited/contributed/award symposia, workshops, posters/networking sessions, and ~90 short courses. The 3-day exposition, however, was visibly smaller, with the number of domestic exhibitors dropping from 630+ in prior years to about 400, and a large reduction of international exhibitors due to the travel bans from China and many European countries (1).

New HPLC, MS, and Chromatography Data Systems (CDS) Product Introductions in 2019-20

While introductions of new UHPLC (ultra-high-pressure LC) systems appear to be slowing down (1-2), manufacturers are turning their attention to HPLC system extensions, chromatography data systems (CDS), and mass spectrometers (MS) for LC/MS or direct liquid/solid sampling.

Table 1 lists new product introductions ordered alphabetically by the vendor at Pittcon 2020 or in the prior year, followed by descriptions and commentaries of each product, categorized as systems, modules, CDS, MS, software, or accessories. 

Here is a selected list of some of the more prominent products

• ·        908 Devices     Rebel
• ·        Agilent 6546 LC/Q-TOF
• ARC (Activated Research Company)     Solvere Carbon selective Detector
• ·        Clarity DataApex 8.2
• ·        EXUM Instruments        Massbox
• ·        IDEX   Film Degasser
• ·        Optimized Technologies EXP2 All-in-One TI-LOK
• ·        Pickering Laboratories  ONYX PCX
• ·        S-Matrix           Fusion QbD 9.9.0
• ·        SCIEX Triple Q-TOF 6600+ System
• ·        Shimadzu  

o   Nexera Series LC-40

o   Anion suppressor ion chromatograph (IC)

o   LCMS-9030 Q-TOF

o   MALDImini-1 Digital Ion Trap (DIT) MS.

·        Thermo Scientific

o   Vanquish Core HPLC

o   Vanquish UHPLC online 2D--LC

o   An automated peptide mapping system

o   Orbitrap Exploris 480 MS

o   Orbitrap Eclipse Tribrid MS

o   Chromeleon 7.3 CDS

·        Waters

o   Select Series Cyclic Ion Mobility Separation (IMS)

o   SYNAPT XS

·        WYATT Technology

o   Dawn, miniDAWN and microDAWN Multi-angle Light Scattering Systems (MALS)

 Summary and Commentaries

Pittcon 2020 will be remembered as the chemistry conference which “squeeze” by the devastating coronavirus Covid-19. Less than a week later, the World Health Organization declared the spreading virus a global pandemic, and President Trump announced a state of national emergency for the United States. The country was in a semi-shutdown with travel bans, school closings, and indefinitely cancellation of all major public gatherings. The American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia for late March was canceled, and the Analytica Conference in Munich was postponed from March to October. Still, Pittcon did suffer significantly from many cancellations of exhibitors and conferees, resulting in lower attendance and fewer exhibitors.

One disturbing trend unrelated to the coronavirus was the skipping of Pittcon this year by two major manufacturers (Waters and Thermo Fisher Scientific). While Pittcon, as a premier event for new product introductions, has been diminishing in recent years from competing conferences and other communication channels, it remains the largest general analytical chemistry conference in North America with global draws for buyers and sellers alike. It is my opinion that skipping Pittcon is a drastic and unpopular move in the eyes of many conferees who wish to compare new products on the exhibition floor. The opportunities to meet with friends and colleagues, learning new technologies, and seeing new instrumentation on the exhibition floor are what inspire many analytical chemists to come back to Pittcon year after year.   

This installment summarizes new HPLC and MS product introductions at Pittcon 2020 and in the prior year and describes the pertinent features of these products. Personally, this is my 19th consecutive year of giving Pittcon HPLC short courses, which had a record attendance of 44. My busy schedule included attending symposia, networking sessions, and exhibition, interspersed many meetings and social events, such as board/dinner meetings of LCGC and Chinese American Chromatography Association (CACA), Separation Community Mixer of the Chrom Forum of Delaware Valley, and the Pittcon Party at the Museum of Science and Technology. 

In this unusual time of severe disruptions of conferences and travels, we are all hopeful that the country would survive the calamity and return to some normalcy for Pittcon 2021 in New Orleans.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the marketing staff of all manufacturers who provided timely responses to the LCGC questionnaires. The author is grateful for M. Farooq Wahah of U. Texas Arlington and Adrijana Torbovska of Farmahem DOOEL, Mengling Wong of Genentech, He Meng of Sanofi, and Michael Heidorn, Joel Stradtner, and Susanne Fabel of Thermo Fisher Scientific for providing useful editorial suggestions and comments. The content of this article is the opinions of the author gathered from the open literature, websites, and personal networking/observations at Pittcon 2020, and bears no relationship to those from LCGC, Pittcon, or any other organizations. 

References

1.   M. W. Dong, New HPLC Systems and Related Products Introduced in 2018-2019: A Brief Review, LCGC North Am, 37(4), 252-259, 2019.

2.   C. H. Arnaud, Chem. & Eng. News, 94(24), 29-35 (2016).

3.   M.W. Dong, HPLC and UHPLC for Practicing Scientists, 2nd Ed., Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2019.

4.   R. Mazzarese, S. M. Bird, P. J. Zipfell, and M.W. Dong, Chromatography Data Systems: Perspective, Principles and Trends, LCGC North Amer. 37(12), 852-866, 2019.

Biography

Dr. Michael W. Dong is a principal of MWD Consulting, which provides training and consulting services in HPLC/UHPLC, method development/improvements, pharmaceutical analysis, and drug quality. He was formerly Senior Scientist at Genentech, Research Fellow at Purdue Pharma, and Senior Staff Scientist at Applied Biosystems / PerkinElmer. Michael holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has over 130 publications and a best-seller book in HPLC from Wiley. He is an advisory board member of LCGC North America, Chinese American Chromatography Association, and Connecticut Separation Science Council.

Postscript on 4/4/2020: This is my fourth week in home-isolation after my return on 3/14 from a Pharma Conference after my Pittcon 2020 Chicago trip, and 95% of the United State is in a shutdown. Looking back on the three trips I took from Feb 14 to March 14 (Pittsburgh, Chicago, Greenville, NC), I felt incredibly lucky to be able to "squeezed" in those last public meetings and returned uninfected since the SARS-CoV2 was already spreading undetected in the country at that time period. I feel well now and much thankful for the grocery and other supports from my family and neighbors during that difficult "shelter-at-home" mandate. I am much saddened to witness the dire situation of New York City, knowing full well that the worst is yet to come. We are all hopeful that some resemblance of normalcy would return by early June.