MaxPeak Premier Columns featuring MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces

Importance of the Topic

Liquid chromatography separations play a critical role in bioanalytical workflows, enabling sensitive detection of biomolecules such as peptides, oligonucleotides, glycans, and proteins. However, undesirable interactions between analytes and metal surfaces can lead to sample loss, reduced sensitivity, and poor reproducibility. The development of advanced column technologies that mitigate these issues is essential to enhance method robustness, reduce development time, and improve data quality across life science applications.

Objectives and Overview

This application note introduces Waters MaxPeak Premier Columns featuring MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces (HPS), designed to minimize analyte–surface interactions. The document provides an overview of column chemistries, performance characteristics, and recommended configurations for small molecule, peptide, oligonucleotide, glycan, and protein separations across reversed-phase, HILIC, and size exclusion modes.

Methodology and Instrumentation

The note summarizes performance data demonstrating improved peak shapes and sensitivity. It compares a range of stationary phases (BEH C18, CSH C18, HSS T3, etc.) with detailed parameters such as ligand density, pore size, carbon load, pH and temperature limits. Method development time and mobile phase simplification are illustrated through practical examples in peptide and oligonucleotide assays.

Used Instrumentation

• Waters ACQUITY Premier UPLC system with MaxPeak Premier Columns
• VanGuard FIT integrated guard column technology
• Compatible detectors for MS and optical detection
• Standard SEC buffers for protein size variant analysis

Main Results and Discussion

MaxPeak HPS columns significantly reduce conditioning times and sample passivation. Analytical data show uniform peak capacity enhancement in TFA, formic acid, and DFA mobile phases. In peptide separations, HSS T3 improves retention of polar analytes. Glycan analyses benefit from BEH Amide and C18 AX phases, yielding high resolution of labeled glycans. Protein SEC columns demonstrate efficient separation of monomers and aggregates without buffer modifications.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Reduced risk of analyte loss for metal-sensitive compounds
• Simplified mobile phase composition without complex additives
• Time savings in method development due to predictable selectivity
• Enhanced confidence in quantitative data for QA/QC workflows
• Broad applicability across biomolecule classes

Future Trends and Possibilities

Continued evolution of surface passivation technologies is expected to extend to emerging modalities such as lipidomics and intact multi-attribute protein analysis. Integration with automated sample preparation and AI-driven method scouting may further accelerate bioanalytical throughput and reproducibility.

Conclusion

Waters MaxPeak Premier Columns with HPS deliver robust performance across a wide range of bioanalytical separations. By minimizing undesirable interactions and simplifying method development, they provide practical advantages for sensitive and reliable analysis of complex biological samples.

References

No specific references were provided in the source document.