RSA Brand Ordering

Best-in-Class Glass Vials & Inserts...

Chemists have long struggled with the surface chemistry of ordinary and even “Certified” glass vials as their silanol sites are very reactive, producing inaccurate data that is not precise. This misinformation from variable, glass vial surfaces can lead to investigations or flawed decisions to be made.

The Reduced Surface Activity (RSA™) Glass Technology was developed to address these issues and to provide chemists with sample containers for LCMS, MS, HPLC, GC and CE that deliver reliable, consistent results by not adsorbing basic analytes, or adding metals to, or changing the pH of the diluent. Made with a unique, manufacturing process developed specifically for labs investigating analytes that are in low-abundance, pH sensitive and basic in nature. They are also indicated for analyses that need dependable vial to vial and lot to lot consistency including labs that use mass spectrometers to help protect their ion source from adducts. RSA™ is also a great choice when surface coatings or silanization are not sufficient or counter indicated for good chromatographic results.

What is RSA™ Technology? RSA™ vials are made with a proprietary manufacturing process that does not create silanols (OH groups) on Type 33, borosilicate glass. This process also, virtually eliminates surface metals and will not add residual microgram amounts of powders or grease found in other borosilicate glass vials that occur during the conversion of glass tubing into a vial. The stringent RSA™ manufacturing processes are continued through to final contaminate free packaging and Quality Control where they are tested for adsorption, metal content and residual materials. A Certificate of QC Conformance is available upon request..

Every batch of RSA™ glass is tested for basic compound adsorption, pH stability over time, metal counts and standard fit and form tolerances. Certificates of Conformance for these QC tests are available and lot support for investigations are available at no charge if needed.

What does RSA™ glass do for you? When using all other commercially available, borosilicate glass, autosampler vials and inserts; sample diluents (such as water) can de-protonate the many hydroxyl groups on the vial surface producing a negative charge on the glass. The “acidic” functionality of these silanols has been known to cause adsorption of basic compounds, and/or hydrolyze some susceptible compounds making them undetectable. The surface metals in these vials can contaminate, cause precipitation, chelation or cause other changes in your samples.

During the RSA™ manufacturing process these ordinary metals, normally found in other borosilicate glass vials, are eliminated and therefore, will prevent adducts from forming when using LCMS.

Benefits of Using RSA™ Glass Autosampler Vials and Inserts:

Residual contaminants used as release agents for ordinary glass autosampler vial manufacturing processes can cause the pH of water based diluents to increase by up to 1.5 pH units in the vial over a four-hour period. RSA™ vials do not contain any of these common contaminants and gives you assurance that your chromatography will not change during this period due to invisible vial contamination.

Prevent hydrolysis in the vial. Hydroxyl groups found on the surface of all ordinary glass autosampler vials can be very acidic causing hydrolysis of bio active compounds. The RSA™ vial surface has virtually no silanols making them mostly inert for these types of compounds that are susceptible to acidic functionality.

Insure quantitation precision run to run, minimize sample adsorption. The hydroxyl groups found on the surface of ordinary glass autosampler vials will bind basic compounds. RSA™ vials have no silanols and every batch is tested for low adsorption. Quantitation is very precise and eliminates high RSD vial to vial and lot to lot. Prevent investigations due to glass vials retaining your samples which are especially noticeable in low sample concentrations or low dosage forms.

During the manufacturing process for all ordinary autosampler vials, if the process is not controlled properly, metals such as sodium accumulate on the surface of the glass. These elements create adducts that can cause issues for your LCMS data. All batches of RSA™ vials are tested for and have extremely low metal content, making them ideal for LCMS, LCMS/MS and GC/MS.

Prevent spurious peaks from glass. The RSA™ vial manufacturing process is conducted in an ultra-clean glass conversion facility without the use of any release agents, grease or glass additives. The entire process is fully automated and the vials are never touched by human hands. This provides assurance for the cleanest vials without a wash process which causes contamination of finished vials due to residue.

Protect your sample needle and instruments. RSA™ vials are manufactured with the same dimensional tolerances as the AQ™ Brand (Best-in the Industry) vials to meet the most demanding needs of all autosamplers on the market. This includes bottom height control which is critical for Waters© autosamplers. Compare RSA™ vials to the internal dimensional control of other HPLC and LCMS Certified™ products on the market.

NOTE: RSA™ glass autosampler vials and glass inserts are manufactured without coatings. This makes them an excellent choice for HPLC, LCMS, GC and GCMS applications when quantitation, reliability and accuracy are important. With standard borosilicate glass vials and inserts, sample diluents (such as water) can de-protonate the many surface hydroxyl groups, producing a negative charge on the glass wall. The “acidic” functionality of silanols has been known to cause adsorption of basic compounds, change the sample solution pH and/or hydrolyze susceptible compounds rendering them undetectable. With RSA™ Glass vials and inserts there is virtually no sample “loss to the vial” and no “pH shifting” making your analysis data more reliable.

You should use RSA™ Autosampler Vials if you are working with low abundance, basic samples and using regular glass vials as it's very possible that some of your compounds could easily be adsorbed to the glass wall. This can change your quantitation or completely remove the compound from solution preventing injection and ultimately masking its detection and identification. With RSA Glass™ vials and inserts this will not occur if the adsorption is due to silanol interaction.

You should use RSA™ Autosampler Vials if you are working with sensitive compounds commonly found in natural products, biological samples or chemical synthesis as the glass wall of ordinary vials could interact with basic compounds. With RSA™ glass vials this problem is eliminated.

You should use RSA-Pro X™ Hydrophobic Autosampler Vials if you are working with proteins that adsorb or are affected by silanols or ordinary glass siloxanes, if your proteins are sticking to glass due to hydrophilic surface adsorption, RSA-Pro X™ Vials and Inserts will be a good solution for you. RSA-Pro X™ Glass Vials provide an almost completely ion free, hydrophobic and an even less adsorptive surface. The low adsorption performance of RSA-Pro X™ glass & permanent, covalent treatment over the pristine RSA™ glass is far superior for proteins and peptides especially when comparing adsorption consistency from vial to vial, even in the same package or when storing for extended periods of time to silanized vials. RSA-Pro X™ hydropphobic glass Vials and Inserts will be a good solution for you.