The Column-11-07-2011

The design of strategies to reduce the activity of residual silanols in conventional alkyl-bonded columns is still one of the main challenges in the current separation of basic compounds by reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

Agilent Technologies and Oxford Gene Technology have announced that they have expanded an already existing partnership into an exclusive agreement for Agilent to provide OGT with oligonucleotide microarrays

Automating the DNA sequence process is made possible by the use of fluorescent tags. With fluorescent dyes, the entire experiment can be performed in a single solution instead of four different ones. Using Sanger-based methods, the DNA fragments migrate through the gel and the colour associated with each successive peak is detected using a laser. The DNA sequence is read by determining the sequence of colours in the peaks as they pass the detector and then fed directly to a computer for instant results.

In response to the environmental challenges during the last decades, several important laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Pollution Prevention Act have been approved.

The separation of intact glycoproteins presents a great challenge because one glycoprotein can exhibit many isoforms with close physiochemical properties. As a result, it is difficult to study them in isolation. A team of chemists from Nanjing University, China, have tested a polymeric weak anion exchange (WAX) monolithic capillary to assess the high resolution separation of glycoprotein isoforms, to see whether this provides the desired results.

A team of researchers led by Nawed Deshmukh of the School of Pharmacy and Chemistry at Kingston University (London, UK) has published new research using liquid chromatography?tandem mass spectrometry (LC?MS?MS) to identify steroid contamination in environmental water samples in Budapest, Hungary.

Scientists Zhi-Min Long, Kai-Shun Bi, Yan-Shuang Huo, Xiao-Yu Yan, Xu Zhao and Xiao-Hui Chen at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, (Shenyang, China) developed and validated a sensitive and efficient liquid chromatography?mass spectrometry (LC?MS) method for the simultaneous determination of geniposide 6?-hydroxygeniposide and genipin gentiobioside in rat plasma.