Revolutionising Chromatography with the Vanquish UHPLC Systems

Significance of the Topic

Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) has become essential in analytical chemistry due to its speed, resolution, and sensitivity. The Thermo Scientific Vanquish UHPLC platforms represent a leap in performance, enabling faster screening, high-throughput workflows, and robust method transfers, critical in pharmaceutical QC, environmental analysis, proteomics, and metabolomics.

Objectives and Study Overview

This article commemorates the five-year development of the Vanquish UHPLC family, profiling system generations (Horizon, Flex Binary/Quaternary, Duo) and evaluating their enhancements. It aims to demonstrate performance gains in separation, sensitivity, accuracy, productivity, and flexibility across diverse applications.

Methodology and Instrumentation

The study compares instrument configurations through case studies including Vanquish Horizon (1500 bar binary), Flex Binary and Quaternary (1000 bar), Vanquish Duo (dual channels for parallel or tandem LC–MS), and Transcend Duo LX (interlaced RP/HILIC for metabolomics). Method validation covers retention time precision, peak widths, gradient transfer between competing platforms, aggregate analysis by size exclusion chromatography, and inverse gradient compensation for constant detector response.

Key Results and Discussion

• Pesticide screening: 250 compounds analyzed in 5 min and 15 min gradients, achieving ~1.8 s average peak width, 10–15 data points per peak, and precise timed SRM MS.
• Method transfer: Seamless migration from Waters Acquity to Vanquish Horizon with comparable volumes and heating control.
• Protein aggregates: Baseline separation of monomer and dimer species on Vanquish Flex Quaternary using LightPipe DAD.
• USP acetaminophen assay: Efficient transfer from Agilent 1260 fulfilling system suitability, with tunable gradient delay and improved signal-to-noise.
• Inverse gradient: Compensation flow maintained constant eluent at charged aerosol detector, yielding linear quantification curves.
• Dual LC workflows: Vanquish Duo halved analysis time for orthogonal chemistries, doubling peptide mapping throughput with minimal retention time shift (<0.03 min) and RSD (<0.2%).
• Metabolomics: Transcend Duo LX enabled interlaced RP and HILIC profiling, annotating ~5,000 metabolites with 30% time savings and broader coverage.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Performance: Wider flow-pressure range and superior separation efficiency.
• Accuracy: Precise sample dosing, active/passive pre-heating, and retention time reproducibility.
• Sensitivity: Charged aerosol and other detectors for universal low-abundance analyte detection.
• Confidence: SmartInject and barcode automation for consistent data quality.
• Productivity: Charger modules, modular software (Chromeleon CDS), and multiplexed workflows.
• Flexibility: Tool-free fluidics, modular detectors, and biocompatibility for bioanalysis.

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Anticipated advancements include deeper MS integration, enhanced automation, and AI-driven method optimization. The modular Vanquish ecosystem supports expanding high-throughput screening, multi-omics, and tailored workflows for emerging analytical challenges in biopharma and environmental testing.

Conclusion

The Vanquish UHPLC systems offer a transformative suite of instruments addressing speed, resolution, and robustness demands across analytical fields. Innovative design and modular workflows deliver higher productivity, reliability, and adaptability for current and future laboratory needs.

Instrumentation

• Vanquish Horizon, Flex Binary, Flex Quaternary
• Vanquish Duo Dual LC: parallel, tandem LC–MS, inverse gradient
• Transcend Duo LX: interlaced RP/HILIC
• Charged Aerosol Detector, LightPipe DAD, SmartInject, Chromeleon CDS

Reference

• Köllensberger G. et al. Merging metabolomics and lipidomics into one analytical run. Analytical Methods 2019.