Column: Sample Prep Perspectives

“Sample Prep Perspectives” keeps you up to date on new developments in sample preparation and provides practical tips to improve the effectiveness and ease of your sample preparation processes. Columnist Douglas E. Raynie is a department head and associate research professor at South Dakota State University. His research interests include green chemistry, alternative solvents, sample preparation, high resolution chromatography, and bioprocessing in supercritical fluids.

View Articles

Practical Understanding of Partition Coefficients

March 01, 2023

On a fundamental level, equilibrium and diffusion define chemical separations. Practical applications of partition coefficients to chromatographic sample preparation illustrate this point.

Overview of Recent Development of Needle-Trap Devices for Analysis of Volatile Compounds

January 01, 2023

Continued development of needle-trap extraction (NTE) has expanded its versatility in applications such as disease diagnosis, aerosol-bound analytes, and breath analysis.

Class Is Back in Session: More Questions on Your Extraction Knowledge

November 01, 2022

Test your knowledge of octanol-water partition coefficients and practical applications of sample preparation.

Testing the Fundamentals: An Examination of Your Extraction Knowledge

September 01, 2022

Can you pass this test of chromatographic sample preparation concepts?

New Sample Preparation Products and Accessories For 2021–2022

May 01, 2022

We assess the landscape of new sample preparation instrumentation, supplies, and accessories introduced over the past 12 months.

Quick Polar Pesticides (QuPPe): Learning from and Expanding on the Work of Others

March 01, 2022

The QuPPe method expands on QuEChERS to tackle highly polar compounds.

The QuEChERSER Mega-Method

January 01, 2022

QuEChERS has been updated to suit modern instrumentation. Now also “efficient and robust,” QuEChERSER is a “mega-method” that covers a wider polarity range.

Putting the Sample into Sample Preparation

November 01, 2021

We explore the aspects of sampling that are of highest importance in an analytical scheme. Devices and processes for obtaining appropriate samples outside of the laboratory are presented.

Origins of Sample Preparation Technologies

September 01, 2021

We look at five modern treatments of chromatographic sample extraction, explaining their initial conception and development to shed light on their current roles as analytical tools.

Heroic Failures in Sample Preparation

July 01, 2021

These seven case studies capture and expand on lessons presented at ChromTalks.