Using Gradient SmartStart Technology and an ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System to Emulate an Agilent 1100 Series LC System Separation for Impurity Testing

The gradient delay or dwell volume of a system can affect the separation and must, therefore, be considered when transferring a method across instruments from different vendors. With the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System, Gradient SmartStart can be used to adjust the gradient delay to match other instrumentation. This feature, included in the instrument method, was successfully used to replicate a method for the analysis of clozapine and related impurities on an Agilent 1100 Series LC System. The separation on the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System matched the system suitability criteria observed on the HPLC instrumentation, including relative retention time and USP resolution. In addition, correlation was also observed for the % of each impurity and the total % of all impurities in the sample. This example illustrates the ability to successfully transfer an HPLC method to an ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System and maintain all acceptance criteria without the need to make any adjustments to the method.