Waters CORTECS COLUMNS - APPLICATIONS NOTEBOOK

Significance of the Topic

The CORTECS series of UPLC columns represents a major advancement in high-throughput, high-resolution liquid chromatography for complex sample analysis. By combining solid-core particle technology with narrow particle size distributions and robust silica chemistries, these columns deliver improved peak capacity, faster analyses, and lower solvent consumption across a wide range of applications in pharmaceutical, environmental, food-safety and bioanalytical laboratories.

Study Objectives and Overview

The application compendium showcases the performance of CORTECS UPLC C18+ (1.6 µm), C18 (1.6 µm), C18 (2.7 µm) and HILIC (1.6 µm and 2.7 µm) columns for:

• Separation of natural products, peptides and complex extracts
• Small-molecule drug impurities and degradants
• Pharmaceutical formulations and excipients
• Environmental and forensic analytes in water, urine and blood
• Biogenic amines, vitamins and nucleobases

The intent is to demonstrate how method speed, selectivity and sensitivity are enhanced using CORTECS columns on diverse instruments including UPLC-PDA, UPLC-MS and HPLC systems.

Methodology and Instrumentation

All applications employ reversed-phase or hydrophilic interaction chromatography workflows optimized for the target analytes. Key parameters include:

• Column dimensions: 2.1 × 50–100 mm (1.6 µm) and 4.6 × 50–150 mm (2.7 µm)
• Mobile phases: water or buffer with 0.1% formic acid vs. acetonitrile gradients, or high-acetonitrile HILIC systems
• Flow rates: 0.4–1.5 mL/min for UPLC, up to 2 mL/min for preparative HPLC
• Detection modes: UV/PDA at typical wavelengths (220–340 nm), MS in ESI+ mode (QToF, TQD, TQ-S)
• Sample preparation: SPE, protein precipitation, tablet dissolution and botanical extraction

Key Results and Discussion

C18+ (1.6 µm) columns achieved sub-2-min separations of beta-blockers, NSAIDs, anesthetics, statins and actinomycins with high resolution (>1.5 Rs) and narrow peaks. Solid-core C18 (2.7 µm) columns delivered comparable performance at reduced backpressure and solvent usage, enabling robust impurity profiling. HILIC chemistries provided rapid retention and quantification of highly polar compounds such as acetylcholine, histamine metabolites, morphine conjugates and water-soluble vitamins in biological and environmental matrices.

Advantages and Practical Applications

Use of CORTECS columns offers:

• Higher throughput via steeper gradients and faster equilibration
• Enhanced sensitivity and peak shapes for low-level analytes in MS detection
• Reduced solvent consumption and extended column lifetime under high-pH and acidic conditions
• Scalability between UPLC and HPLC formats for method transfer

Applications span quality control of pharmaceuticals, impurity profiling, pharmacokinetics, environmental monitoring and natural-product characterization.

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Advancements in stationary‐phase design will continue to drive faster, more selective separations. Integration with two-dimensional LC, high‐resolution MS and automated sample preparation platforms will further expand capabilities for metabolomics, proteomics and complex formulation analysis. Emerging methods may leverage CORTECS materials for supercritical fluid chromatography and capillary LC applications.

Conclusion

The CORTECS UPLC column portfolio provides a versatile toolkit for modern analytical challenges, combining speed, resolution and robustness. By selecting the appropriate particle size and chemistry, laboratories can streamline workflows across small molecules, peptides and polar analytes while maintaining high data quality and throughput.

References

• Waters Corporation application notes WA64669–WA64710
• CORTECS UPLC Column User Guide, Waters Corporation, 2014