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Shimadzu joint research with Professor Takeshi Bamba of the Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University on “Unified Chromatography Integrating Supercritical Fluid and Liquid Methods In-Line” was awarded the 50th Inoue Harushige Prize. The Inoue Harushige Prize is awarded to researchers and companies for outstanding technology developed in Japan and commercialized as a product by a company based on novel research results achieved by an academic, research, or other organization. The award was presented on July 14 at a ceremony held at the Industry Club of Japan in Chiyoda City, Tokyo.

Shimadzu President and CEO Yasunori Yamamoto (center of front row) Holding the Award Certificate and Professor Takeshi Bamba, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University (left of front row)

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a technique that uses supercritical fluid^* as the mobile phase in order to separate compounds more quickly and efficiently. Professor Bamba and Shimadzu began developing technology for using SFC technology, which had only been used for a limited number of applications up to that point, for separation of hydrophilic compounds. That resulted in successfully using SFC for simultaneous analysis of lipophilic and hydrophilic vitamins. Based on that success, Shimadzu and Professor Bamba pioneered development of the world’s first unified chromatography (UC) system, with an extended separation mode based on a combination of SFC and liquid chromatography, and then expanded the scope of applications to include metabolomics and residual pesticide analysis. Furthermore, they developed the Nexera UC supercritical fluid chromatograph analysis, preparative separation, and extraction system for serial separation and analysis by SFC after supercritical fluid extraction (SFE).

In recent years, customers have been seeking faster and more accurate analytical solutions for ensuring food safety and early diagnosis of diseases. However, food and blood analysis required tedious pretreatment. Consequently, it was difficult to achieve accurate analysis because some components would oxidize or decompose when exposed to air. The ability to analyze samples quickly and fully automatically without tedious pretreatment steps means Nexera UC systems can help analyze components with a wide range of characteristics.

Shimadzu will continue to develop businesses and commercialize products based on analytical technology by supporting research and development in a wide range of fields. Shimadzu will also continue to invest efforts in activities intended to accelerate research and development by industry-academia collaborations, develop practical utility for corresponding advanced technologies, and promote the broad adoption of those technologies in society.

• * A supercritical fluid is a fluid at a temperature and pressure state above the critical point (the temperature and pressure point uniquely characteristic of each substance, above which the substance cannot coexist as a gas and liquid), where fluids exhibit the low viscosity and high diffusivity characteristics of a gas while also having the high solubility characteristics of a liquid.

SFE-SFC Nexera UC System