MaxPeak Premier Columns - Small Molecule Application Notebook

Significance of the Topic

Mitigating non-specific interactions between analytes and metal surfaces in liquid chromatography is critical for achieving reliable quantitative results. Metal-sensitive compounds such as phosphorylated small molecules, nucleotides, and certain drugs can suffer from adsorption, on-column degradation, and signal loss, compromising sensitivity, precision, and reproducibility across life-science, pharmaceutical, and food-safety laboratories.

Objectives and Study Overview

This application notebook collates a series of studies demonstrating how Waters MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces (HPS) Technology—implemented in MaxPeak Premier columns and ACQUITY Premier UPLC systems—resolves metal-analyte interactions. The review covers diverse use cases including NSAIDs, cancer growth inhibitors, drug metabolites, phosphorylated lipids, TCA-cycle metabolites, B-group vitamins, veterinary drugs, and multi-mycotoxin assays.

Methodology and Instrumentation

• MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces (HPS): hybrid organic–inorganic silica barriers to shield analytes from stainless-steel or titanium oxide surfaces.
• Chromatographic hardware: ACQUITY Premier UPLC Systems (Premier, Arc, I-Class), Atlantis Premier BEH™ and CSH Phenyl-Hexyl Columns, CORTECS™ Premier Columns, XSelect™ Premier and XBridge™ Premier Columns.
• Mass spectrometry: Xevo™ TQ-S micro tandem MS, QDa™ single-quadrupole detector, and UPLC-MS/MS platforms.
• Data systems and tools: Empower™ CDS for acquisition and processing, DryLab4™ for automated Quality by Design method development, Progenesis QI for metabolomics data analysis.

Main Results and Discussion

• NSAIDs: CORTECS Premier Columns reduced peak tailing by up to 25% and increased peak height by 39% vs stainless steel hardware for rapid two-minute separations.
• Cancer inhibitors and drug metabolites: MaxPeak HPS improved sensitivity and peak shape for gefitinib metabolites and targeted therapies without strong mobile phase additives.
• Phosphorylated and carboxylate lipids: ACQUITY Premier CSH C18 columns raised signal‐to‐noise ratios more than three-fold for lysophosphatidic acids, enabling simultaneous analysis with neutral lipid classes.
• Nucleotides: Premier systems delivered up to five-fold higher recovery and dynamic range for ATP, ADP analogs, and adenosine standards compared to conventional UPLC setups.
• TCA-cycle metabolites and energy cofactors: Atlantis Premier BEH Z-HILIC columns with high-pH buffers provided sharp, symmetric peaks and consistent recoveries for 27 central carbon metabolites in plasma and urine extracts.
• B-group vitamins: ACQUITY Premier Solution gave three-to-ten-fold sensitivity gains for riboflavin, thiamine, nicotinamide, flavin mononucleotide, pyridoxal-5′-phosphate, and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in energy drinks and supplements.
• Veterinary drugs and mycotoxins: Tetracyclines showed improved response factors with HPS surfaces, and fumonisin carryover was cut by 80% in multi-mycotoxin UPLC-MS/MS assays.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• Universal mitigation of metal-sensitive adsorption without strong chelators or repeated passivation.
• System-agnostic performance improvements extend to competitive LC platforms.
• Enhanced method robustness, reduced conditioning time, and fewer mobile phase additives.
• Broader analyte coverage in pharmaceutical impurity profiling, metabolomics, food safety, and veterinary drug monitoring.

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Continued integration of HPS technology with automated Quality by Design workflows and AI-driven method optimization will streamline development of high-throughput assays. Expanding hybrid surface chemistries to capillary and microflow LC formats may benefit single-cell metabolomics and proteomics. The combination of green solvent systems and robust inert surfaces will support sustainable analytical practices in regulated industries.

Conclusion

Waters MaxPeak HPS Technology, embodied in Premier columns and UPLC systems, effectively overcomes metal-analyte interaction challenges. Across a wide range of small molecule, lipid, metabolite, and bioactive compound assays, this surface innovation delivers superior sensitivity, reproducibility, and peak quality—enabling confident analytical results in complex matrices.

References

1. Jung M., Lauber M. Demonstrating Improved Sensitivity and Dynamic Range with MaxPeak HPS Technology: A Case Study in the Detection of Nucleotides. Waters Application Note 720007053EN.
2. Lauber M., et al. Low Adsorption HPLC Columns Based on MaxPeak HPS Technology. Waters White Paper 720006930EN, 2020.
3. Waters Corporation. Analytical Quality by Design Based Method Development Using DryLab4 with Empower CDS and Arc Premier System.
4. SANTE/12089/2016. European Commission Guidance Document on Analytical Quality Control and Method Validation for Pesticide Residues Analysis in Food and Feed.