The Column-03-12-2018

Click the title above to open The Column March 2018 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 14, Number 3, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column March 2018 North American issue, Volume 14, Number 3, in an interactive PDF format.

Incognito demands that we aim high when presenting our work on chromatography.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) 2018 National Awards will be presented at a ceremony on 20 March in conjunction with the 255th ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, USA.

Agilent Technologies has announced a strategic scientific collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC) Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience with the aim of creating an Agilent Center of Excellence (CoE) in biomolecular characterization.

Knauer (Berlin, Germany) has joined the United Nations Global Compact movement, underlining their commitment to responsible corporate governance on an international level.

Researchers from Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand, have investigated the potential of VOC analysis using GC–MS to identify the presence of the agricultural and urban pest the brown marmorated stink bug.

The Column spoke to Kirsten Benkendorff, an Associate Professor in Environment, Science, and Engineering and the Co-Deputy Director of the Marine Ecology Research Centre at Southern Cross University in Australia, about her work investigating Muricidae molluscs, their use in ceremonial incense and traditional medicines, and the role of chromatography in this research.

This article presents a novel approach for toxicology and pharmacology laboratories that combines multi-compound screening followed by multi-compound determination in a single method. The multi-compound assay developed allows 90 molecules including benzodiazepines, cocaine and related stimulants, amphetamines, and opioids to be measured. The multi-targeted screening (MTS) method was developed using a spectra library containing over 1200 compounds. The approach was evaluated in a routine clinical toxicology laboratory to detect and quantify compounds in unknown samples.

With the growing use of illegal opioids, analysts should be prepared for a large influx of samples in their laboratories. While the workload may be increasing, the number of analysts and equipment may not, so the need for faster and better liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) methods is important. By implementing an efficient sample preparation technique for matrix cleanup for some of the most common and traditional opioid matrices-blood and urine-coupled with a rapid and accurate LC method, laboratories can address the analytical needs for this growing problem.

The 2nd Copenhagen Symposium on Separation Sciences (CSSS 2018) will be held on 26–27 June 2018 at the DGI-byen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The preliminary programme of the 2nd CSSS is summarized below and gives an idea of what can be expected.

Sometimes troubleshooting a separation can rely upon the end user spotting subtle clues within the chromatogram, and at other times the visual signs can be much more obvious.

The Column spoke to Kirsten Benkendorff, an Associate Professor in Environment, Science, and Engineering and the Co-Deputy Director of the Marine Ecology Research Centre at Southern Cross University in Australia about her work investigating Muricidae molluscs, their use in ceremonial incense and traditional medicines, and the role of chromatography in this research.