Transcend UHPLC Systems

Importance of the Topic

High-throughput liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is essential in fields ranging from biomarker screening and drug discovery to clinical diagnostics and environmental analysis. Innovations in multichannel UHPLC and automated online cleanup directly address key challenges in throughput, data quality, and sample preparation labor.

Objectives and Study Overview

This article reviews the Thermo Scientific Transcend LX and TLX UHPLC platforms, which pair multichannel separation and TurboFlow online cleanup with industry-leading mass spectrometers. The goal is to demonstrate increased throughput, robust quantification, and simplified workflows across diverse applications including immunosuppressant drug assays, pesticide screening, and SARS-CoV-2 peptide detection.

Methodology and Workflow

Transcend LX systems employ two or four independent UHPLC channels with interleaved injections to eliminate idle MS time during column wash and equilibration. TurboFlow technology in TLX systems merges size-exclusion and adsorption mechanisms to retain small analytes at high flow rates while flushing away macromolecular interferences. Aria MX software synchronizes pumps, valves, autosamplers, and MS acquisition windows for efficient method control.

Used Instrumentation

• Transcend LX-2 and LX-4 multichannel UHPLC systems (2 or 4 binary channels)
• Transcend TLX-1, TLX-2, TLX-4 systems with TurboFlow online cleanup columns
• Vanquish Flex binary and quaternary pump hardware
• CTC TriPlus RSI autosamplers (single- or dual-head)
• TurboFlow modules for automated on-line sample clean-up
• Thermo Scientific TSQ Fortis, TSQ Quantis, TSQ Altis triple quadrupole mass spectrometers
• Orbitrap Exploris 120 and 240 high-resolution mass spectrometers
• Aria MX software for graphical method development and batch control

Main Results and Discussion

• Throughput increases up to four-fold via interleaved multichannel injections without loss of sensitivity or robustness.
• Immunosuppressant assay: calibration linearity (R²>0.992) for tacrolimus, everolimus, sirolimus, cyclosporin A with 15 s cycle times.
• Pesticide screening in green tea: TurboFlow achieved 267 samples/day compared to 20/day (SPE) and 50/day (QuEChERS).
• SARS-CoV-2 targeted proteomics: 500 respiratory swab samples/day with high retention time and peak area reproducibility over five days (Cardozo et al., 2020).

Benefits and Practical Applications

By automating sample cleanup and maximizing MS duty cycle, Transcend systems reduce manual preparation, labor, time, and consumables. They enhance sensitivity, data confidence, and ROI in pharmaceutical, clinical, environmental, and food safety laboratories.

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Future developments may include AI-driven method optimization, expanded parallelization beyond four channels, novel cleanup chemistries tailored to emerging analytes, and integration with point-of-care diagnostics, broadening the impact of high-throughput LC-MS workflows.

Conclusion

Thermo Scientific Transcend LX and TLX UHPLC systems combine multichannel chromatography, TurboFlow online cleanup, and intuitive Aria MX control to meet the demands of modern high-throughput LC-MS applications, delivering scalable, efficient, and robust analytical solutions.

References

• Cardozo KHM, Lebkuchen A, Okai GG et al. Establishing a mass spectrometry-based system for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 in large clinical sample cohorts. Nat Commun. 2020;11:6201.