LCGC Europe-11-01-2006

This month's instalment of "LC Troubleshooting" focuses on two column-related problems reported by readers. The first deals with a column that takes several injections to "settle down" for each batch of samples. The second relates to short column life as a result of early fouling of the column. Although both of these problems are not encountered with most liquid chromatography (LC) methods, they both appear often enough that we all should be aware of them. It is only a matter of time before you meet one of these problem types with one of your methods.

Researchers from the University of Arkansas have come up with a fibrous nanomaterial suitable for fabricating robust paper-like material and devices. Potential applications for these nanowire assemblies include armour, flame-retardant fabric, bacteria filters, oil cracking, controlled drug release, decomposition of pollutants and chemical warfare agents.

At this year's Desty Memorial Lecture the president of the Chromatographic Society, Chris Bevan, presented the Silver Jubilee medal to Peter Myers. Peter had requested that he received the award at the meeting because Denis Desty, who was the first secretary of the original Chromatography Discussion Group, was very influential in Peter's chromatographic career.

When possible, GC analysis is performed under retention time locked conditions, meaning that allergen elucidation and quantification is based on mass spectral data (scan mode or specific ion detection mode) and on retention time.