Method for determining the volume of a liquid sample
AssigneeTecan Trading AG
InventorsWerner Halg, Nikolaus Ingenhoven, Michael Trosch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method, a device, and a test kit for performing this method for determining the volume of a sample of the liquid. In the method, a specific concentration of a chromophoric indicator is provided in this liquid, a sample is separated from the liquid, the optical absorption of the separated sample is measured, and the volume of the separated sample is determined by correlation of the measured optical absorption with the concentration of indicator in this liquid. Ions that generate a color in the sample by complexing with a specific ligand are used as the indicator to stain the liquid.
Claims23
A method for determining the volume of a dispensed liquid sample, wherein the sample liquid comprises a fixed concentration of indicator ions comprising the steps of:
- providing a diluent in a container, the diluent comprising polydentate chromogenic ligands of one type;
- dispensing a volume of the sample liquid into the diluent, thereby forming complexes of the polydentate chromogenic ligands with the indicator ions, which complexes are chromophoric indicators for staining the resulting mixture;
- measuring the optical absorption of the stained mixture in the container;
- and
- determining the volume of the dispensed liquid sample by correlating the measured optical absorption of the stained mixture with the optical absorption of a test sample that has an exactly defined concentration of the same chromophoric indicator, and wherein the chromophoric indicator is a colored complex that has a three-dimensional coordination geometry, which greatly hinders adsorption of this type of molecule to apolar surfaces.
A method for determining a residual volume of a liquid in a sample holder comprising the steps of:
- providing a liquid in a sample holder comprising a fixed concentration of indicator ions;
- removing a volume of the liquid from the sample holder;
- adding a diluent comprising polydentate chromogenic ligands of one type to the liquid remaining in the sample holder to form the complexes of the polydentate chromogenic ligands with the indicator ions, which complexes are chromophoric indicators for staining the resulting mixture;
- measuring the optical absorption of the stained mixture in the sample holder;
- and
- determining the residual volume of the liquid by correlating the measured optical absorption of the stained mixture in the sample holder with the optical absorption of a test sample that has an exactly defined concentration of the same chromophoric indicator, and wherein the chromophoric indicator is a colored complex that has a three-dimensional coordination geometry, which greatly hinders adsorption of this type of molecule to apolar surfaces.
A method for determining the volume of a dispensed liquid sample, comprising the steps of:
- providing a diluent in a container;
- dispensing a volume of a sample liquid comprising a chromophoric indicator that stains the sample liquid to form a mixture in the container;
- measuring the optical absorption of the stained mixture in the container;
- and
- determining the volume of the dispensed liquid sample by correlating the measured optical absorption of the stained mixture with the optical absorption of a test sample that has an exactly defined concentration of the same chromophoric indicator, wherein the chromophoric indicator to stain the sample liquid is a colored complex that is formed by complexing indicator ions with specific polydentate chromogenic ligands with a three-dimensional coordination geometry which greatly hinders adsorption of this type of molecule to apolar surfaces.
A method for determining a residual volume of a liquid in a sample holder comprising the steps of:
- providing a liquid in a sample holder comprising a chromophoric indicator;
- removing a part of the liquid in the sample holder;
- adding a diluent to the residual volume of the liquid in the sample holder;
- measuring the optical absorption of the diluted residual volume of the liquid;
- and
- determining the residual volume of the liquid in the sample holder by correlating the measured optical absorption of the mixture with the optical absorption of a test sample that has an exactly defined concentration of the same chromophoric indicator, wherein the chromophoric indicator to stain the liquid is formed by complexing indicator ions with specific polydentate chromogenic ligands with a three-dimensional coordination geometry, which greatly hinders adsorption of this type of molecule to apolar surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.