{"id":4489,"date":"2017-02-06T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/ultra-pure-proof-with-mass-detection\/"},"modified":"2022-07-28T03:07:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T03:07:03","slug":"ultra-pure-proof-with-mass-detection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/ultra-pure-proof-with-mass-detection\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra-Pure Proof with Mass Detection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Putting a robust detector on the front lines of method development and mass confirmation<\/h2>\n

With Alex Brien, <\/a>Senior Purification Scientist at Reach Separations
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Before joining the newly formed Reach Separations<\/a> in February 2012, I spent five years at AstraZeneca in analysis and purification (latterly as group lead in reversed phase and chiral purification). This experience gives me a good perspective of both the needs of \u201cbig pharma\u201d and, more recently, the needs of a specialist separation solution provider. My time at AstraZeneca allowed me to get \u201chands on\u201d with a number of chromatography and mass spectrometry platforms, and provided me with an acute awareness of the need for reliable data and robust instrumentation \u2013 something that was reinforced when I joined Reach Separations.<\/p>\n

Reach Separations started out of the blocks very fast, in part because we had the expertise to address enantiomer separation challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry in light of tighter regulations; indeed, we started out primarily as a chiral chromatography-focused business<\/a>, serving the pharma market. However, over the last four years, we\u2019ve branched out into agrochemical and fine chemical markets and, as we\u2019ve grown, achiral work has become a much bigger part of our business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Waters<\/a>
At Reach Separations, the ACQUITY QDa is a key addition to the company’s UPLC and UPC2 systems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Key analytics<\/h3>\n

In addition to our chiral purification work (we tackle everything from mg to kg scale), we offer achiral purification services to produce \u201cultra pure\u201d material that goes onto later stage testing. We also work with manufacturers at the opposite end of the spectrum, by offering isolation and identification of impurities.<\/p>\n

When it comes to purification, the most important (and challenging) aspect is the analysis. From a separations standpoint, we use several UPLC systems and we also have an SFC equivalent \u2013 the Waters ACQUITY UPC2<\/sup><\/a>. Those two separation systems are now coupled with a Waters ACQUITY QDa mass detector<\/a> and this allows us to cover any project that comes into the laboratory.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had the QDa for 18 months<\/a> \u2013 with only one preventive maintenance done and zero downtime. The investment coincided with a sudden surge in company growth, and the need to expand our mass detection capability. Prior to that, we had been working with legacy single quad mass spec systems that suffered from reliability as well as compatibility issues.<\/p>\n

The QDa was an obvious fit, ticking several important boxes for our lab.<\/p>\n