Unit Capabilities
HPLC (Shimadzu), with two detectors:
- UV detector
- Fluorescence detector
HPLC is a chromatographic technique used to split a mixture of compounds that allows identifying, quantifying and purifying the individual components of the mixture. HPLC plays an important and critical role in the fields of analytical chemistry, and biochemistry, industry (especially pharmaceutical industries), research, and medicine.
The main purposes for using HPLC in pharmaceutical industry are:
Identification and quantification of drugs, either in their active pharmaceutical ingredient or in their formulations during the process of their discovery, development and manufacturing.
Quality control study.
Evaluate product stability and monitor degradation.
The importance of HPLC uses in these fields falls under the stringent regulations established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This obligates all pharmaceutical companies to detect the quality of their products by using the HPLC before allowing them to sell it in the global market.
Separation process of the components in a mixture relies on pumps to pass a pressurized liquid solvent containing the sample mixture through a column filled with a solid adsorbent material. Each component in the sample interacts slightly differently with the adsorbent material, causing different flow rates for the different components and leading to the separation of the components as they flow out the column.
Capillary electrophoresis with photodiode array detector (Agilent Technologies) (G7100A)
Capillary electrophoresis is an analytical technique split a mixture of compounds that allows identifying, quantifying and purifying the individual components of the mixture. In which, the analytes are separated according to their ionic mobility with the use of an applied voltage, additionally they may be concentrated by means of gradients in conductivity and pH. The electrophoretic mobility is dependent upon the charge of the molecule, the viscosity, and the atom's radius. The rate at which the particle moves is directly proportional to the applied electric field--the greater the field strength, the faster the mobility. Neutral species are not affected, only ions move with the electric field.
Capillary electrophoresis is used most predominately because it gives faster results and provides high resolution separation.
*Both of HPLC and CE can be used complementary to each other.
UV spectrophotometer (Halo DB-20)
It is used in different fields as analytical chemistry, biochemistry. It depends on light absorption characters of the analyte in UV-Visible regions (organic compound or through derivatization).
Uses:
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
Enzyme Assay
Control of Purification
Study of Cis-Trans IsomerismThe trans-isomer is more elongated as compared to its counterpart cis-isomer. Hence, this structural difference will be reflected in absorbance spectrum. The trans-isomer will have a higher wavelength of maximum absorption.
Molecular weight Determination
Turbidmetry
Freeze dryer (SIM international, USA, FD8-8T)
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It is used for drying of water or moisture containing materials under low temperature, causing less damage to the substance than other dehydration methods using higher temperatures. Also, it does not usually cause shrinkage or toughening of the material being dried. In addition, flavors, smells and nutritional content generally remain unchanged, making the process popular for preserving food.
It is used in fields of Food Processing, Dairy Industry, Pharmaceutical, Proteins, enzymes, hormones, vaccines and other biological products, Research, Nutraceuticals.
Uses:
Drying (reserving) of heat-sensitive materials, such as proteins, enzymes, microorganisms, and blood plasma. The low operating temperature of the process leads to minimal damage of these heat-sensitive products.
Drying of materials that are unstable in solution form
In bioseparations, freeze-drying can be used also as a late-stage purification procedure, because it can effectively remove solvents.
Furthermore, it is capable of concentrating substances with low molecular weights that are too small to be removed by a filtration membrane.