ZenTech has an ISO9001:2000 certified laboratory which carries out research and development projects primarily for the pharmaceutical industry, specialising in chromatographic separation technology. The laboratory develops pharmaceutical formulations and carries out bioequivalence studies for both national and international companies. It provides fast and efficient analysis of study compounds utilizing HPLC, LCMS and LCMSMS, and Dissolution/Content Testing. All analytical methods are fully validated according to FDA guidelines.
HPLC
Advances in the HPLC technology have brought about the use of gradients in the mobile phase composition. A normal gradient might be 5 - 50% methanol (depending on how hydrophobic the analyte is) over 25 minutes. The gradient separates the analyte mixtures as a function of how well the changing solvent mobilizes the analyte. For instance, using a water/methanol gradient, the more hydrophobic components will elute (come off the column) under conditions of relatively high methanol; whereas the more hydrophilic will elute under conditions of relatively low methanol. Whether one starts with high organic or low organic depends on the nature of the stationary phase and the analyte.
Solvents used include any miscible combination of water or various organic liquids (the most common are methanol and acetonitrile). Water may contain buffers or salts to assist in the separation of the analyte components.
High Performance Liquid Chromatography, also known as High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and usually abbreviated as HPLC, is a form of column chromatography used frequently in biochemistry and analytical chemistry. The analyte is forced through a column of the stationary phase in a liquid (mobile phase) at high pressure, which decreases the time the separated components remain on the stationary phase and thus the time they have to diffuse within the column. This leads to narrower peaks in the resulting chromatogram and thence to better resolution (it's easier to differentiate one peak from another) and sensitivity (tall, narrow peaks can be easier to discriminate from noise than shorter, broader peaks).
LCMS and LCMSMS
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is an analytical chemistry technique that combines the physical separation capabilities of liquid chromatography (aka HPLC) with the mass analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. LC-MS is a powerful technique used for many applications which has very high sensitivity and specificity. Generally its application is oriented towards the specific detection and potential identification of chemicals in the presence of other chemicals (in a complex mixture).