Last month, Waters released the ACQUITY UPLC I-Class System, the successor to the original ACQUITY System, which debuted seven years ago. “The system has been designed primarily to increase the capacity, which makes it ideal for LC/MS,” said Liz Hodgdon, senior product manager for Waters. She told IBO that the system is designed for customers who “want to get to ultimate sensitivity [and are] interested in maximizing their throughput and getting the highest-quality data.” It also features an optimized UV flow cell detector. “It really is a system where we’ve taken a lot of what we’ve known over the seven years and really re-engineered the system. . . . The I-Class is meant to really make UPLC significantly better for customers that need it.”

The key to the system, according to Ms. Hodgdon, is the reduction in dispersion, which is about 50% of the original ACQUITY, enabling more efficient separations. She explained that “with the improvement in dispersion, we’re seeing a peak-capacity improvement, and really, we’re seeing the system able to obtain the theoretical maximum.”

Among the I-Class’s features is active preheating technology, first used in the ACQUITY H-Class Systems, which electronically heats the solvent. Other changes include re-engineered fittings, new valve materials, a new low-volume tubing design and changes to the auto sampler. Ms. Hodgdon expects ACQUITY users to upgrade to the I-Class, starting with early adopters. The I-Class is available at a 5% premium to the ACQUITY and will begin shipping this quarter. The I-Class is also part of Waters’s Regulated Bioanalysis System Solution.