Tobias Rainer | Senior Associate Scientist
Roche Diagnostics GmbH
Tobias is a mass spectrometrist at Roche Pharma Development in Germany. Coming from the Italian alps, he studied chemistry in Austria and Scotland. Among other responsibilities, his work focuses on advancing the in-depth characterization of novel biopharmaceuticals. Being a passionate environmentalist, he recently investigated more sustainable separation methods for Biopharma LC-MS analysis.
Appearances:
Festival of Biologics Day 3 @ 12:50
Moving away from Acetonitrile and TFA to greener eluents in Biopharma LC-MS
With growing awareness of the environmental impact of laboratory operations, the principles of green chemistry are gaining momentum within the analytical community. Although not typically viewed as major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC) reliant analytical labs consume large volumes of environmentally hazardous solvents such as acetonitrile (ACN) and halogenated additives. In this study, we present a biodegradable, less toxic solvent system for RP-LC-MS that replaces the conventional solvent mixtures, by combining an uncommon but highly effective solvent for RP and an exceptionally strong non-PFAS ion pairing agent. The resulting system demonstrated superior chromatographic resolution and mass spectrometric sensitivity compared to the ACN standard, while significantly reducing organic solvent usage and CO₂ emissions. This approach supports a broad range of biopharmaceutical applications, including intact, subunit, and reduced antibody analyses. The method offers a practical and scalable path toward greener LC-MS workflows in therapeutic protein analysis.
Created by
Terrapinn is proud to be a member of isla.
Working together to build sustainable events