I’m excited to share the 1st paper of 2020 from #QuaveLab: “LEGO MINDSTORMS Fraction Collector: A Low-Cost Tool for a Preparative High-Performance Liquid Chromatography System.” We’ve provided some additional free resources with the paper. The Supplementary Information file includes detailed base construction tips and brick-by-brick LEGO assembly instructions. You can access it here: https://pubs.acs.org/…/acs.…/suppl_file/ac9b04299_si_001.pdf
We also created a free video to demonstrate how to assemble the various pieces of the full unit. We’ve posted it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzYv31-Kuns&feature=youtu.be
This project began one day when I came in the lab to find one of the postdocs hand-collecting prep-fractions—a tedious process that takes hours. Through brainstorming & getting creative, this amazing team came up with a low-cost solution. It has been a game-changer for us! We use it constantly, and have been successful in isolating a number of natural products – resulting in the discovery of two new bioactive compounds and acquisition of crystal structures on 5 compounds!
My hope is that this will be useful to many other labs facing the time & monetary constraints of separating natural products or even synthetic intermediates! It is adaptable to different prep-HPLC systems & could even be used with a simple gravity column. Construction requires parts that are accessible at most home construction or hardware stores, plus #LEGO bricks & a LEGO MINDSTORM unit. Total cost of assembly was <$500 USD.
Caputo, M.#, J.T. Lyles#, M. Salazar#, C.L. Quave. (2020) LEGO MINDSTORMS Fraction Collector: A low-cost tool for a Preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography System. Analytical Chemistry DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b04299 [Link]
