dispatches from Analytica 2016

Agilent Technologies introduces liquid chromatography product family

By Joseph James Whitworth

- Last updated on GMT

Agilent's 1260 Infinity II LC instrument
Agilent's 1260 Infinity II LC instrument

Related tags Gas chromatography

Agilent Technologies has introduced InfinityLab - a product family of liquid chromatography instruments, columns and supplies – at Analytica 2016 in Munich.

Part of the launch was the Agilent 1260 Infinity II liquid chromatography (LC) system, which the firm said will bring high-end technology from the 1290 Infinity II LC into the company’s core platform.

The 1220 Infinity II LC (available in August), 1260 Infinity II LC (announced at the event and shipments having started) and the 1290 Infinity II LC systems make-up the family of instruments.

Mid-range instrument

Dr Michael Frank, senior director global marketing for the liquid phase separations business, said it is the core platform for the company in liquid chromatography.

The big news about the 1260 Infinity II LC is that it is the successor of the current 1260 Infinity system but we leverage a lot of the technologies from the 1290 Infinity II LC into the core platform now,” ​he told FoodQualityNews at the trade show.

“For example, the detectors are more or less the same as in the 1290 system, limited in data rate for example, the column compartments are more or less the same but some limitations occur and with the auto sampler it is the same story, same technology, same usability, but always with a few limitations compared to the high end flagship 1290 Infinity II LC.

“But if you compare this to the previous systems you’d think we’ve made a huge technology step forward in point of performance compared to the classic systems.”

The 1260 Infinity II Quaternary Pump has an operating pressure of up to 600 bar.

Multi-wash capability of the 1260 Infinity II Multisampler flushes the injection needle outside with three solvents, and uses seat backflush procedures to reduce carryover to less than 10 ppm.

The multisampler takes a maximum load of 16 microtiter plates and up to 6,144 samples.

Platform development

The main part of customer interaction was during the development of the 1290 Infinity II LC.

“We had a lot of customers working with us on the prototype and the technology is well known from the 1290 so we leveraged that to the 1260 world and now we’ve brought this to the masses,” ​said Dr Frank.

“It is not just the 1260 Infinity II LC instrument that we launched, it is the complete set of the instrument together with columns, consumables and the new version of the OpenLAB 2.0 CDS [Chromatography Data System] software which is a data back end for the LC but also for GC and single quad MS systems for example.”

He said the mid-range instrument is for routine users in QA/QC labs and could be used as a MS front end.

“If you are looking for food quality there are stand-alone LC systems…or as triple quad MS are quite common in this market as well, you can use the 1260 Infinity II LC system as the triple quad front end for these markets.”

For customers wishing to upgrade, Dr Frank said the new systems are backwards compatible.

“This means that if a customer owns an 1100 series system, which has not been available on the market for many years, they can start to upgrade an existing 1100 series system with the 1260 Infinity II system,” ​he said.

“You could, for example, start with the detector, add later the column compartment and even later then the pump and the auto-sampler and stepwise increase the capabilities and features of your system.

“This prevents the need for investment in a complete new system which makes it very attractive for customers that are maybe budget limited but who would like to use the latest technologies already.”

Related topics Food Safety & Quality

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