Patents Examined by Ernest G. Therkorn
  • Patent number: 9283541
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method for manufacturing a thin layer chromatography (“TLC”) plate is disclosed. The method includes forming a layer of elongated nanostructures (e.g., carbon nanotubes), and at least partially coating the elongated nanostructures with a coating. The coating includes a stationary phase and/or precursor of a stationary phase for use in chromatography. The stationary phase may be functionalized with hydroxyl groups by exposure to acidified water vapor or immersion in a concentrated acid bath (e.g., HCl and methanol). At least a portion of the elongated nanostructures may be removed after being coated. Embodiments for TLC plates and related methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Matthew R. Linford, Robert C. Davis, Richard R. Vanfleet, David Scott Jensen, Li Yang, Jun Song
  • Patent number: 9279788
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention feature methods and apparatus for performing chromatographic separations. The invention feature methods and control means in the form of computer programs and software that control the formation of a concentration gradient at two or more total flow rates, with an elution period occurring in a slow flow rate and at least other portions of the gradient occurring during a fast total flow rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Waters Technologies Corporation
    Inventor: Hongji Liu
  • Patent number: 9279789
    Abstract: A chromatography column distribution system includes a set of first bed support ribs extending radially from an inner, first radial position near the centre of the plate to an outer radial position nearer to the periphery of the plate and at least one set of intermediate bed support ribs starting at an intermediate radial position and extending to an outer radial position nearer to the periphery of the plate. Channels are formed between adjacent bed support ribs. The desired local effective channel height varies in accordance with a predetermined formula from the first radial position to the outer radial position. The transverse cross-sectional areas of the ribs or the channels are adapted such that the actual local effective channel height is within 15% of the desired local effective channel height over portions of the distribution system situated between the first radial position and the outer radial position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences AB
    Inventor: Klaus Gebauer
  • Patent number: 9272260
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are novel methods of using polymeric adsorbent resin for chemical synthesis and the purification of product therefrom. Also disclosed herein is a novel method of using silica gel for the combination of chemical reaction and chromatography into a single step. The methods disclosed herein increase the efficiency of chemical synthesis processes. Accordingly, the utility of the methods disclosed herein includes the ability to automate chemical synthesis and purification of the resulting products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.
    Inventors: Gerald B. Hammond, Bo Xu
  • Patent number: 9274092
    Abstract: A method and device for packing a chromatography column formed of one or more vibration devices attached to top and/or bottom flanges of the column. Media is added in one or more steps to the column, allowed to settle under the effects of gravity and then subjected to one or more treatments of vibration from the vibration devices until a suitably packed column is obtained. Liquid used to suspend the media while being placed into the column may be at least partially removed before or during the vibration step(s). The remaining liquid is then removed or replaced after the packing has been obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: EMD Millipore Corporation
    Inventors: Venkatesh Natarajan, Anthony Frederick Mann, Daniel Schubnel
  • Patent number: 9267927
    Abstract: A durable on-column tunneled frit was developed for use in nanoflow UPLC systems. The frit was tunneled during sol-gel reaction. The tunneled-frit fabrication process is easy and reproducible in terms of back pressure and durability. This design creates low backpressure with high liquid flow, which is suitable for the nanoflowUPLC application. A short packing (2 cm C18 particle) tunneled-frit column was demonstrated to sustain 10,000 psi continuous liquid flow for over one week without any particle leakage or pressure instability. The tunneled-frit was also successfully applied to the fabrication of nanoUPLC trapping and analytical column system. It was demonstrated to have high separation efficiency and sensitivity for the analysis of tryptic peptides as well as improved detection sensitivity for phosphopeptide analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Academia Sinica
    Inventors: Chao-Jung Chen, Mei-Chun Tseng, Yet-Ran Chen
  • Patent number: 9259669
    Abstract: Collection containers (17) are heated by head conduction from a container rack (18) with a heater (19) as the heat source. When an eluting solvent is supplied into a trap column (7) by a pump (5), an eluate containing a target compound exiting from the column (7) flows through a preparative separation passage (13) and drips from a solution nozzle (13a), and this solution is separated into fine droplets by a gas stream blowing from a gas ejection nozzle (15a). When a droplet touches an inner wall of the container (17), the volatile solvent immediately vaporizes, leaving the target compound precipitated in solid forms on the inner wall. Thus, the process of vaporizing and drying the eluate to collect the target compound is completed within a short period of time. This process can be performed online and hence is suitable for laborsaving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yutaka Kono, Masayuki Nishimura, Bob Boughtflower, Przemyslaw Stasica
  • Patent number: 9259687
    Abstract: The invention concerns a bag comprising a first conduit (13C) which extends longitudinally between a flow pump connector (11C) emerging on a first side (68) and a tangential filter connector (11M) emerging on a second side (69); a second conduit (13B) which extends longitudinally from a first side of said conduit (13C) between a supply container connector (11B) emerging on said first side (68), and another tangential flow connector (11N) emerging on said second side (69); a third conduit (13H) which extends from a second side of said conduit (13C), starting at a collecting container connector (11J), until it enters said first conduit (13C); and a fourth conduit (13A) which extends from the first side of said conduit (13C), starting at a transfer pump connector (11A), until it enters said second conduit (13B).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: EMD Millipore Corporation
    Inventors: Jean-Louis Weissenbach, Sebastien Cirou
  • Patent number: 9259729
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and means to produce chromatography media having improved pressure-flow properties. More closely, the invention relates to bimodal particle size distribution and the use of layer functionalization as means to change pressure-flow properties of chromatography media. The invention relates to a method for production of chromatography media having improved pressure-flow properties, comprising mixing large beads/particles, comprising an inner core and an outer functionalized shell/lid, with smaller beads/particles, wherein the ratio of the particle size of large and small beads: [D50V for large particles/D50V for small particles]>1.2, and wherein the volume ratio of large and small beads in the column: [Total volume of large beads/Total volume beads] is in the range 0.05-0.9.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences AB
    Inventors: Jan Bergstrom, Bo-Lennart Johansson
  • Patent number: 9248383
    Abstract: Novel porous materials comprising nanoparticles, use in chromatographic separations, processes for its preparation, and separations devices containing the chromatographic material are described by the instant invention. In particular, the disclosure describes porous inorganic/organic hybrid particles embedded with nanoparticles selected from oxides or nitrides of the following: silicon carbide, aluminum, diamond, cerium, carbon black, carbon nanotubes, zirconium, barium, cerium, cobalt, copper, europium, gadolinium, iron, nickel, samarium, silicon, silver, titanium, zinc, boron, and mixtures thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: WATERS TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kevin D. Wyndham, Nicole L. Lawrence
  • Patent number: 9228982
    Abstract: A switchable valve for a sample injector includes a first valve member and a second valve member that can moved with respect to the other. The first valve member includes a plurality of ports, the second valve member includes a plurality of fluid paths. The plurality of ports include eight circumferential ports distributed along a circumference and one central port arranged at a central position of the first valve member. The plurality of fluid paths include three arcuate fluid paths so as to be couplable with at least two of the circumferential ports and one straight fluid path extending between the central position and a circumferential position so as to be couplable with the central port and one of the circumferential ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Johnny Ebsen, Matthias Wetzel
  • Patent number: 9222922
    Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography method to routinely and reproducibly detect and quantitate metal complexes is provided. The metal complexes used in the method of the invention can be different metal complexes, or they can be stereoisomers of the same metal complexes. The high performance liquid chromatography method of the present invention is suitable for the separation of diastereomers of the same metal complexes. Also provided is a chiral high performance liquid chromatography method to separate enantiomers of metal complexes. Superoxide dismutase mimetic compounds are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Galera Labs, LLC
    Inventors: Urszula J. Slomczynska, Bobby N. Trawick, Dennis P. Riley, Arati Naik
  • Patent number: 9220997
    Abstract: In the field of expanded bed adsorption chromatography, with particular but not exclusive relevance to disposable expanded bed chromatography columns, a method of conducting upward flow expanded bed chromatography comprising: supplying a liquid via an inlet to a stationary phase medium contained in a column, allowing adsorption of at least one component from the liquid by the stationary phase medium, withdrawing the liquid from the column via an outlet, regulating the expansion of the stationary phase medium by regulation of the flow rate of the liquid through at least the inlet, and restricting any overpressure in the headspace of the column to not more than the outside pressure plus 0.1 bar, is provided. In addition, apparatus for use in said method, in particular columns for use in expanded bed chromatography, are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: DPX HOLDINGS B.V.
    Inventors: Allan Lihme, René Oehlenschläger Holte, Kurt Hauge Jensen, Tony Christensen
  • Patent number: 9217734
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method for manufacturing a thin layer chromatography (“TLC”) plate is disclosed. The method includes forming a layer of elongated nanostructures (e.g., carbon nanotubes), and at least partially coating the elongated nanostructures with a coating. The coating includes a stationary phase and/or precursor of a stationary phase for use in chromatography. Embodiments for TLC plates and related methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Matthew R. Linford, Robert C. Davis, Richard Vanfleet, David Scott Jensen, Li Yang, Jun Song
  • Patent number: 9216366
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a liquid chromatography component including a column and a prefilter, which is hard to cause an increase of supplied liquid pressure even when the measurement of a sample is repeated. The present invention is a liquid chromatography component, which includes: a column with filler particles filled therein; and a prefilter, the filler particles having an average particle size in the range of 2 to 20 ?m, the prefilter having a filtering particle size in the range of ? to ? of the average particle size of the filler particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takuya Yotani
  • Patent number: 9212747
    Abstract: A sealing configuration is configured for sealingly coupling a first fluid flow path of a first device to a second fluid flow path of a second device. The sealing configuration comprises a contact surface comprising a structure configured for increasing a surface pressure when coupling the first device to the second device. The contact surface comprises a metal coating configured for increasing sealing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Joachim Wagner, Hans-Georg Haertl
  • Patent number: 9205955
    Abstract: The invention concerns a device comprising a base; a circuit comprising a bag comprising two flexible films and conveying network connectors, and a press (9) comprising a first shell (16) disposed upright on a front face (5) of said base (2) and a second shell (17) mounted on said first shell (16), said first shell (16) and second shell (17) clamping said bag to form conduits; said bag comprising first through apertures on one side and said first shell (16) comprising hooking studs (106) on an upper part, which studs (106) pass through said first apertures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: EMD Millipore Corporation
    Inventors: Sebastien Cirou, Rene Reinbigler, Virginie Buisson, Jean-Louis Weissenbach
  • Patent number: 9205350
    Abstract: A collection system for collecting samples from a flowstream (5) exiting a supercritical fluid chromatography system is provided. The collection system comprises: (i) a first back pressure regulator (10) on the flowstream as it exits the chromatography system, (ii) a gas-liquid separator (30) having a tapered and angled dripper (65), which introduces the flow into the separator at an angle tangential to the separator wall; and (iii) one or more fraction collectors (15), wherein the fraction collector is at a reduced pressure collection point, between 100 bar and atmospheric pressure. A collection system for HPLC is also provided, as well as a process for collection of samples from a flowstream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Waters Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Harbaksh Sidhu, Ziqiang Wang, Steven L. Zulli
  • Patent number: 9205351
    Abstract: A collection system for collecting samples from a flowstream (5) exiting a supercritical fluid chromatography system is provided. The collection system comprises: (i) a first back pressure regulator (10) on the flowstream as it exits the chromatography system, (ii) a gas-liquid separator (30) having a tapered and angled dripper (65), which introduces the flow into the separator at an angle tangential to the separator wall; and (iii) one or more fraction collectors (15), wherein the fraction collector is at a reduced pressure collection point, between 100 bar and atmospheric pressure. A collection system for HPLC is also provided, as well as a process for collection of samples from a flowstream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Waters Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Harbaksh Sidhu, Ziqiang Wang, Steven L. Zulli
  • Patent number: 9194504
    Abstract: Described is a rotary valve including a stator element and a rotor element. The stator element defines a first inlet passage, a second inlet passage, and a first outlet passage, respectively, having a first inlet port, second inlet port and first outlet port in a stator face. The rotor element has a rotor face in contact with the stator face and has a first channel and a second channel formed therein. The rotor element is rotatably movable about a rotational axis to at least a first position and a second position. In the first position, the first inlet port is fluidly coupled to the first outlet passage by the first channel and the second inlet port is fluidly coupled to the first outlet passage by the second channel. In the second position, the first inlet port is fluidly coupled to the first outlet passage by the first and second channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Waters Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Sylvain Cormier, James P. Murphy