Andreas Hoel, Biotage

We are here at the MedChem Europe show and I believe that you have some new equipment here.

Yes we are introducing two new products at this conference. We have our SP1™ flash chromatography instrument and we also have the Initiator™ Eight microwave synthesizer.

Can you tell us about the flash chromatography system first?

What's nice about this system is new Touch Logic Control™. A built in touch screen that keeps the footprint of the system small and doesn’t require the additional expense of computer for operation. This new software is very intelligent and yet user friendly. It guides you through how to set up your chromatography using a unique TLC-to-gradient that creates sample specific methods upon your TLC data.

And both our microwave synthesizers and flash chromatography incorporate this touch screen technology in order to save the precious lab space. One other feature that is nice is the upgradeability. If you start with the base model, you can upgrade to a system with 4 columns that allow you to load up to 4 runs and walk away. The system will sequentially purify each run without manual intervention.

So now tell us about the new sequential synthesizer. What is it called?

It is called the Initiator™ Eight. What we have is a base model called the Initiator™ and we have a choice of two upgrade paths. Both upgrade paths are basically allowing for automation of the system, and differ only in the number of samples you can process. So for the medicinal chemistry environment our automation offers chemists the freedom to program their reactions and walk away , the initiator eight is the perfect solution.

With the newly released Initiator™ Eight, you have up to eight samples to be lined up and you have “conveyor belt technology” as we call it, where you can keep adding samples as other positions are being liberated. For library generation you need much greater capacity. The Initiator 60 system processes up to 60 samples, but still with a the flexibility to handle a very broad range of volumes going from .2 up to 20 ml.

What are the benefits of these systems?

Both systems have taken automation to the next level. Touch Screen navigation and preprogrammed methods allow chemists to focus on the chemistry rather than the technology. These are the easiest most user-friendly systems available in their categories. Chemists can now perform synthesis reactions formerly not possible using common reflux methods as well as quickly test and adjust experimental parameters because the microwave is so incredibly fast!

Who are these systems aimed at?

These new systems are aimed for the discovery chemistry market. They are designed to increase productivity and success rates primarily for medicinal research chemists but, are also finding favor in the Specialty Chemical Market. Basically the systems are designed for chemistry labs where chemists are looking for a better way to perform synthesis and flash purification.

Further Information: http://www.biotage.com