Q 1: Chiral Technologies has recently introduced two new stationary phases – CHIRALPAK® ZWIX™(+) and CHIRALPAK ZWIX(-). Can you talk about these new phases?
PF: The new zwitterionic chiral stationary phases have been developed specifically to exhibit stereoselectivity for amphoteric molecules, notably for separations of a vast variety of underivatized amino acids, peptides and zwitterionic chiral drugs.
Q 2: What are the unique features of your new products?
PF: Our ZWIX selectors combine both anion- and cation-exchange functional groups. They can be applied for separation and analysis of underivatized amino acids and zwitterionic compounds of diverse structural functionalities. This recognition ability is largely independent of the position of the amino and the acidic functionional groups. This is a very unique feature of the ZWIX phases, as it allows, for example, the enantiomeric resolution of a, b or g-amino acids or peptides. In addition, since the two ZWIX selectors behave as pseudo enantiomers, the elution order of amino acid enantiomers can be reversed by simply using either the ZWIX(+) selector or ZWIX(-) selector. This is important for impurity profiling and accurate detection when combined with enhanced efficiency of columns packed with 3-µm particles. Polar mobile phases used to develop separations are amenable for LC/MS detection, which is essential in biological applications and to detect molecules without UV chromophores.
Q 3: Do you need a specialized technical support chemist to help develop separations using these zwitterionic phases?
PF: Method development strategies are straightforward and are applicable for both ZWIX(+) and ZWIX(-) selectors. Therefore, they can easily be used by most chromatographers.
Q 4: Was this technology invented in-house?
PF: The zwitterionic ion exchangers have been developed by Professor Wolfgang Lindner at the University of Vienna and complement the previously commercialized CHIRALPAK QD-AX and QN-AX anion exchange columns. This technology is exclusively marketed by Chiral Technologies worldwide.
Q 5: What markets are you considering for promotion of these new chiral stationary phases? And is there a primary market you are focusing on currently?
PF: A significant number of pharmaceuticals contain amino and acidic structural elements, and a number of chiral pharmaceuticals are manufactured using natural and unnatural chiral amino acids. Our new ZWIX selectors will be used in both the R&D and QC laboratories. In addition, peptide therapeutics is a fast growing market. Sequence and analysis of amino acids are of utmost importance for this market place. And of course, accurate amino acid analyses are essential in the food industry, since they help control, quality and safety of food flavorings and amino acid supplements.
Q 6: As I understand, analyses of amino acids and very polar compounds in general, remain a challenging task and the market space is quite crowded. What is your strategy to compete in this environment?
PF: As I mentioned previously, separation and detection of chiral amino acids and other polar compounds are important to the pharmaceutical, clinical diagnostics, and food industries. Analysis of derivatized chiral amino acids is possible using other chiral phases, such as those based on polysaccharides and QN/QD-AX. The analysis of chiral amino acids directly (without derivatization) is challenging, particularly if the amino group is not directly connected to the chiral center. By offering direct amino acid analyses, we are redefining the way these analyses have been conducted by rendering post- and pre-column derivatization procedures unnecessary. Our new ZWIX phases can easily be operated with modern, sensitive detection techniques such as mass spectrometry.
Q 7: In conclusion, can you describe the major benefits the ZWIX phases bring to the market?
PF: The major features -- the capability of separation and accurate detection of underivatized amino acids and amphoteric molecules in a desired elution order -- provide compelling benefits of maximized operational flexibility for laboratories involved in amino acid and peptide analyses.