The Column-02-01-2012

An investigation into the Scotch malt whisky brewing practices of over 100 years ago has revealed some unexpected results.

Life science research has been a driving force behind the $40 billion analytical instrument market growth over the last decade, resulting in new products, applications, markets and companies. These opportunities have revitalized revenues for many industry participants and fundamentally changed the analytical instrument business, technological advancements and a shifting of focus and reorganization of top companies.

A team of researchers has proved that the Ancient Mayans used tobacco. The discovery was prompted by the examination of several ancient Mayan containers from the Kislak Collection of the US Library of Congress for the presence of alkaloids.

How cells survive, replicate and maintain genome integrity in high NaCl concentrations has long puzzled scientists. A group of US scientists has conducted a series of experiments to determine how this occurs and discovered that cells are actually protected from these conditions by the ?gene deserts?, the 40% of the genome that are thought to serve no purpose.

The forging of vehicle registration documents has seen a sharp rise in recent years, with the issue being particularly problematic in Brazil.

Gathering information about the chemical and physical properties of target analytes is an essential step to effective solid-phase extraction (SPE) method development.

In comparison to other GPC/SEC detectors such as light-scattering detectors or UV detectors, viscometers need more care. It takes a longer time to get a stable baseline after changing from one solvent to another and the quality of the LC components plays an important role. Nevertheless, a viscometer is worth these efforts as it provides unique information that is not available with any other detector.

A systematic way to develop HPLC methods consists of building up and running a useful set of experiments (DOE, design of experiments) to evaluate the influence of several factors or method conditions on the selectivity of a chromatogram. The crucial part here is the peak tracking between the chromatograms.

ARABLAB, the annual gathering of the analytical industry in Dubai, is once again recording substantial growth, not only in the Middle East but also throughout the world. With further hall space added for the 2012 event, there are even more opportunities for sellers and buyers to meet and discuss the latest products and services.