May 15th 2024
The still relatively new technique has distinct advantages, but a few of those benefits make it incompatible with some of the currently accepted principles of green sample preparation.
Improved Sample Prep for Protein Sorting
August 7th 2007In a recent issue of Nature Nanotechnology, a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) have created a microchip system capable of speeding up the separation and sorting of biomolecules such as proteins.
Different Approaches to Synthesizing Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Solid-Phase Extraction
August 1st 2007Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymeric materials that mimic immunosorbents. They are widely used as sorbents for solid-phase extraction (SPE). The most common way to synthesize them is bulk polymerization because of its simplicity and versatility. This produces a hard monolith that has to be ground and sieved to obtain particles in the desired size range. However, the partial loss of the materials as fine dusts; the irregular shape of the particles produced and their wide size distribution, have led to a search for different polymerization methods to offset the drawbacks of the bulk polymerization process.
The Global Laboratory Life Science and Analytical Instrument Industry
July 1st 2007The laboratory life science and analytical instrument industry is comprised of a large, diverse group of organizations that manufacture and distribute their products worldwide. However, overall industry sales are concentrated among a small set of companies. Approximately 950 firms are included in the industry, but only about 100 companies have sales above $50 million.
Ask the Editor: Advantages of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) for Preparative Separations
June 25th 2007The major advantages of preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) include separation speed; the ability to achieve chiral separations; lower viscosity of the mobile phases, which allows high flow rates with acceptable pressure drops and results in higher productivity; reduction of solvent use of as much as 90% compared with liquid chromatography; and ease of processing collected sample fractions.