DMSO, which I had given up on, now can be concentrated and dried. Now we can use the precious samples repeatedly!!
In this issue, we interviewed Dr. Sari Honda, Assistant Professor of the University of Shizuoka, who uses Smart Evaporator C1 in her research on structural analysis of natural products, about her opinions and requests for our products.
Interviewee：
Dr. Sari Honda, Assistant Professor, Laboratory of Food Analysis and Chemistry, Department of Food and Life Science, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Shizuoka
┃Dr. Honda's research content
My main research themes are on plant polyphenols. We also conduct structural analysis using instruments such as MS and NMR, as well as functional evaluation such as antioxidant activity and enzyme inhibition tests. The enrichment operation is performed before MS measurement or after the target compound is transferred to a vial after NMR measurement.
┃How Smart Evaporator was introduced
It all started when Dr. Kumazawa (a professor of the same lab) showed me a catalog. Dr. Kumazawa noticed that one of his acquaintances was listed in User's Voice of the Smart Evaporator and contacted him for confirmation. "This device can evaporate even DMSO," I learned for the first time from a catalog that was circulated.
┃How Smart Evaporator is used
It is often used to recover the components dissolved in DMSO from NMR sample tubes after NMR measurement, or to dry and solidify the samples in organic solvents as the pretreatment for mass spectrometry measurement. We have not yet operated under nitrogen atmosphere, but since the gas used by "Smart Evaporator C1" can be replaced with nitrogen, we would like to use it for concentrating samples which we are concerned about whether they will be oxidized. Many polyphenols are easily oxidized, and oxidized polyphenols have coloration, and many polyphenols are fragile, so I am hoping that Smart Evaporator will help.
┃Changes due to the introduction of Smart Evaporator
- Problems before introduction
In the past, it was difficult to recover samples in DMSO solvent after NMR measurement, so samples were frozen as they were after NMR measurement.
- Improvement after introduction
However, by using a Smart Evaporator, we can now concentrate DMSO and dry solidify the sample. We can now use DMSO without any hesitation and also collect valuable samples.
Summary
Dr. Honda, whom we interviewed this time, is working on the research theme "Analysis of the expression mechanism of the functions of plant resource polyphenols", but until now, handling the DMSO solution recovered from the NMR tubes has been a problem. With the Smart Evaporator C1, they were able to evaporate DMSO, and they felt that it was a great benefit to be able to use DMSO without any more worries than before. It has only been a few months since the Smart Evaporator C1 was installed, but we were happy to hear that the members of the lab are taking turns using it every day.
(Reporting by Watanabe and Otake)
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■Product details of Smart Evaporator C1 (Single channel evaporator)