LCGC Europe-01-01-2009

I regularly receive e-mails from readers with a wide variety of questions. Some of these blossom into full-blown columns, but many are answered with just a short response. As I cleaned out my inbox recently, I chose a few of these to share. There is no central theme this month, but hopefully you will pick up some useful information from these topics related to practical operation of the liquid chromatography (LC) system.

Microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) is a new technique in sample preparation that can be connected on-line to gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC) without any modifications.

SCM-4 - The 4th International Symposium on the Separation and Characterization of Natural and Synthetic Macromolecules

Chromatographers are choosing hydrogen carrier gas more often for its performance and, in the face of increasing helium prices, cost. In this instalment of "GC Connections", John Hinshaw addresses some of the more frequently asked questions he encounters regarding hydrogen as a carrier gas.

Hypercrosslinked polystyrene-type (solid-phase extraction) SPE materials exhibit a unique ability to enter p-interactions with aromatic, heterocyclic and unsaturated compounds. This property permits selective extraction and pre-concentration of the above classes of species from non-polar media and fatty matrices. The principle has been exploited for developing analytical protocols to determine polar furan derivatives in mineral transformer oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in smoked fish and for the fractionation of polychlorinated aromatic compounds in environmental matrices.

The interpretation of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCÃ-GC) based on the modulation ratio (MR) concept encompasses method implementation, ideas on quantitative measurement and how modulation phase affects GCÃ-GC.