New LC System Designed as a Bridge between HPLC and UPLC Methods Introduced

Waters Corporation have introduced the Waters® ACQUITY® Arc™ System, a quaternary liquid chromatograph that gives analytical laboratories running established LC methods a clear choice for replicating or improving their separations performance. With this new addition to the ACQUITY product line, the new ACQUITY Arc System is specifically engineered to respond to the needs of analytical scientists for a single LC platform that can enable them to efficiently transfer, adjust or improve their methods regardless of the LC platform on which they were developed. Waters intends to begin shipping the ACQUITY Arc system to customers at the end of June.

To date, scientists working with established methods haven’t had an LC platform versatile enough to bridge the gap between HPLC and UPLC®. With the introduction of the ACQUITY Arc System, and its enabling Arc Multi-flow path™ technology, scientists now have the ability to emulate the gradient dwell volume and mixing behaviour of various LC systems. By selecting the appropriate fluidic path, the ACQUITY Arc System can easily emulate a variety of HPLC systems without altering the method’s gradient table, or provide UHPLC performance with the flip of a switch.

In addition to replicating established HPLC assays without altering the gradient table, the ACQUITY Arc System can enable improved chromatographic performance of methods by leveraging 2.5 - 2.7 micron particle column technologies, as well as support previously developed applications on 3 - 5 micron HPLC columns.

Waters is offering a full complement of LC detectors for the ACQUITY Arc System, including photodiode array, UV/Vis, fluorescence, refractive index and evaporative light scattering. The system is also fully compatible with Waters’ market-leading mass detector, the ACQUITY QDa®. In addition, the ACQUITY Arc System features novel Auto Blend Plus™ Technology that enables the operator to program directly % organic and % pH gradients to significantly reduce human error and the manual labour associated with preparing buffered mobile phases. The ACQUITY Arc System is controlled through Waters industry-leading informatics packages of Empower® 2 or Empower 3  software.

For more information on Waters ACQUITY Arc System: www.waters.com/arc.