Design and construction of an environmentally friendly system for capillary (cLC) and nano (nanoLC) liquid chromatography

Abstract

Latin America, Brazil, and the State of São Paulo have many industries, universities, and research centers (e.g., EMBRAPA, IPT, Instituto Butantã, IPEN, and many others) that use daily the liquid chromatography technique (CL). All the technology used in this area is imported from the United States of North America (USA) and Europe. No regional companies are dedicated to developing instrumentation or cutting-edge technology for chromatographic analysis. This project intends to create a Technological Innovation Center at Nano Separation Technology (NST) in São Carlos, SP. São Carlos concentrates a large number of highly qualified and trained researchers in cutting-edge technology, especially in engineering (mechanics, computing, mechatronics, electrical), chemistry, and physics specializing in scientific instrumentation. This availability would be beneficial for developing high-efficiency/quality Brazilian instrumentation for chromatography and mass spectrometry because, despite the intense use in the country, it lacks technology aimed at the production of equipment, parts, and different devices.In the first phase (Phase I) of this project, a low-cost solution that facilitates the migration of the interested industry to the use of LC on a miniaturized scale (capillary/nanoLC) will be developed. Capillary/nanoLC provides significant analytical (methodological) benefits - in addition to environmental, toxicological (analysts' health), and economic benefits - derived from reducing solvent consumption by up to 20 thousand times. However, instrumentation for miniaturized LC is still scarce and expensive. Consumables, Parts, and installation and maintenance services are still difficult to acquire in Brazil. In addition, companies that use the LC already have a large installed technological capacity through a considerable investment of resources in instruments that operate on a conventional scale (mL/min). Therefore, in this first phase (Phase I), we will develop a platform to adapt conventional liquid chromatographs, regardless of brand, model, and year of manufacture, to operate with mobile phase flow rates in the range between 50nL/min and 50 µL/min. The system will consist of:i) A high-precision mechanical flow-splitting device, which will provide flowrates on the scale of µL/min (microLC) and nL/min (nanoLC) using a conventional commercial pump;ii) A system to minimize the volume of sample introduction (injection), which avoids widening and distortion of the chromatographic bands due to overload of the miniaturized column;iii) A UV detection cell for micro/nanoLC, capable of enabling detection on a miniaturized scale, with minimal noise and widening of the chromatographic band caused by dispersion in the detection celliv) A micro (i.d. - 1mm) or nano (i.d. <- 0500 mm) capillary column, suitable to operate at these scales with the platform developed during the project. (AU)