Launch of Industry Standard HPLCs to promote Advanced Laboratory Environment 

Shimadzu Corporation announces the global launch of its i-Series of New Industry Standard HPLCs systems. The i-series improves productivity and promotes an advanced laboratory environment with operation capabilities from built-in touch panel and smart device, thereby enabling a PC-free laboratory.

The i-Series consists of the Prominence-i, which supports conventional to high-speed analysis, and the Nexera-i, which supports ultra-high speed analysis. These integrated HPLC systems propose a completely new operating environment and realise a PC-free laboratory by enabling control of the instrument from a smart device, such as a smart phone, and via a newly developed Interactive Communication Mode (ICM).

The i-Series is ideal for a variety of analysis workflows, including R&D, quality control and safety testing, in fields such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, foods and environmental.

The laboratory in which instruments are installed and the office in which day-to-day operations are performed are usually located far apart from each other. Consequently, analysts spend a great deal of time moving between both locations. The i-Series aims to improve the efficiency of the customer’s workflow by realising a PC-free environment that allows operators to control instruments and to check the system status and chromatograms from anywhere.

The new Interactive Communication Mode (ICM) feature enables operators to perform minimal operations to start an analysis via the instrument while the data acquisition is synchronised with LabSolutions workstation. Furthermore, analysts can use a smart device to start analysis and remotely monitor system status and chromatograms without using any special software. These features allow easy access to a system regardless of the operating environment, such as the operation of a system installed under a hood, in order to analyse highly active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The newly developed dual-temperature control function in the detector’s optical systems and flow cells offers excellent baseline stability. This ensures reliable data unaffected by room temperature fluctuation. As compared to an in-Class HPLC system, the baseline fluctuation has been reduced by about a factor of 20. Moreover, the i-Series allows the direct injection of highly concentrated samples without dilution, thereby saving pre-processing operation. Even when injecting ultra-low volumes, such as 1 μL or less, the i-Series offers highly precise analysis with injection volume repeatability of 1% or less. In addition, the injection cycle time has been reduced to half of that of our previous integrated system. This reduces analysis by more than 47 minutes when analysing 384 samples in four 96-well micro titre plates.

The i-Series systems incorporate 7-inch colour LCD touch panels. The graphical user interface, with a design similar to that of the i-Series flow lines, allows even inexperienced operators to intuitively control the system. It displays system operational status and the chromatogram in real time. The LabSolutions workstation user interface also employs the same design as the i-Series’ touch panel, providing intuitive operations regardless of experience level. Moreover, the i-Series employs a system check function that confirms consumables used, as well as a navigation function that guides the replacement of parts in order to save maintenance costs.

The i-Series provides full automation of routine analytical operations. The entire series of operations can be automated, from start-up, sample analysis and report output to shut down. This improves analysis reliability and stability. Additionally, the instrument power can be automatically turned off after completing the workflow such that more than 95% of standby electricity can be saved. Lastly, the optimised system capacity ensures smooth method transfer from Shimadzu and other vendors’ HPLC systems.