PIC SOLUTION

PIC Solution SAS was founded in France in 2004 as a company specializing in supercritical fluid chromatography. The company is based in Avignon, France where the analytical and preparative SFC systems are manufactured. Equipment ranges from 10 ml/min analytical SFC units to preparative SFC units with flow rates up to 1000 ml/min. More recently, PIC Solution has started a range of SFE equipment, mainly focused on pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications.

Hybrid philosophy.

The Hybrid SFC concept, unique to PIC Solution, incorporates both a 10 ml/min analytical and a 100 or a 150 ml/min preparative SFC in a single unit. Origonally conceived as a system for users with resources or space for a single system but who wish to carry out method development, preparative separations and fraction analysis, the system has found a place in larger separations laboratories where it can be switched between its functions according to work-flow demands.

Where small scale preparative separations using 10 mm id columns are to be used, a 20 ml/min system is also available.

Software for the SFC-PICLab Hybrid systems combines the features of both the Analytic and the preparative SFC systems. The units are switched between analytical and preparative functions through the software.

In the analytical mode, screening sequences can be set up in moments by selection from 9 analytical columns and six modifiers together with a generic screening method and information on the samples (96 in 2-ml vials in the autosampler). As with the SFC-PICLab Analytic, results can be selected using specific samples or separation conditions (column, mobile phase) and up to 60 chromatograms may be displayed on-screen.

In the Preparative mode a separate injection system, exactly like those on the dedicated preparative systems, is used so automatic, manual and extraction injection techniques are available. Multiple fractions (4 plus waste standard, up to 6 available) are collected using time, time plus time windows plus threshold or threshold alone. Up to four preparative columns can optionally be selected from a software-controlled valve.

Specifications

Maximum Flow Rate                                    20 ml/min

Maximum co-solvent flow rate                       10 ml/min

Co-solvent  selection                                   Up to 6 solvents

Max Pressure                                             350 bar

Column Size                                              4.6 and 10 mm id

Column Selection                                        Up to 10 columns

Temperature                                              15 to 60°C

Injection                                                   Autosampler (60 vials)

Detection                                                  Variable Wavelength UV (4 simultaneous wavelengths)

                                                               DAD, Chiral (or other) detector

Fraction Collection                                             5 fractions plus waste

Production capacity                                            0.1 to 5 g/day