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Early history of Eastman Kodak Ektachem slides and instrumentation

Both authors are retirees of the Eastman Kodak Co.
^a Address correspondence to this author, at: PO Box 252, Pittsford, NY 14534–0252.

	Introduction

 
The Ektachem story starts in 1970 at the Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, NY.¹ For some time, Eastman Organic Chemicals had supplied reagents to the clinical laboratory. Al Baitsholts, product manager for a thin-layer chromatographic system of impressive analyte sensitivity, became convinced that some kind of thin-layer format might form the basis for a new approach to routine clinical chemistry analysis. His timing was excellent because Kodak was interested in new products that could be made by using proprietary coating technology. Al visited his former boss and friend, Edwin Przybylowicz, a senior manager in the Kodak Research Laboratories. They discussed various configurations of thin-layer chemistry that would require no more than 10 µL of a biological fluid (serum, plasma, whole blood, and even cerebrospinal fluid) and that would yield a quantitative result.

Przybylowicz was strongly taken with some of the suggestions. He formed a team consisting of Charles Warburton, Leo Kunzelsauer, and William Fellows to explore some possibilities. The goal that emerged from these early experiments was to create dry, thin films containing all of the reagents necessary for clinical analysis by colorimetry. Reagents in a matrix of hydrophilic polymer would be coated on top of a transparent plastic base and dried. Upon applying the test sample to the film, water and the analytes would diffuse into the reagent layers, initiating the reaction sequence(s). The extent of reaction would be determined by colorimetry.

Spreading the test sample over the film proved to be a considerable challenge: The fluid tended to form a bead on the surface of the film. The exploratory group initially used filter paper, plastic filters, or woven fabric to spread the fluid over the reagent layer. A better solution was to coat the spreading layer as a slurry of solid particles along with a binding material over . . . [Full Text of this Article]

	Acknowledgments

 

	Footnotes

 

	References

 

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