August 2022 | LCGC North America

Where Is Separation Science Heading?

August 01, 2022

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In honor of LCGC’s 40th year, we asked leading chromatographers to share their perspectives on current challenges and their visions for the future, looking at fundamentals of the techniques as well as the impact of analytical developments in important areas like medical research, pharmaceutical development, and environmental studies. Here’s what they said.

The Future of Instrumentation and Columns in Liquid Chromatography

August 01, 2022

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Although smaller advances have been made in the past decades, the question remains whether further extending operating pressure and decreasing particle size remains a feasible approach, or whether drastically novel approaches are required.

Liquid Chromatography Column Design and Dimensional Analysis of the van Deemter Equation

August 01, 2022

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The fundamental mechanisms of band broadening are usually introduced to students through the van Deemter equation. Dimensional analysis of this equation can give physical meaning to the equation coefficients and enhance our understanding relative to qualitative descriptions. This approach can also guide improvements to future liquid chromatography (LC) column designs.

Accredited Forensics Laboratories Are Not Properly Validating and Controlling Their Blood Alcohol Determination Methods

August 01, 2022

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The lack of proper method validation has important implications in blood alcohol concentration (BAC) determinations. We examine this issue, addressing the importance of gas chromatography (GC) for BAC determination, why certain validation procedures are important, and why accreditation bodies need to step up their game.

Let’s Get Small: Miniaturizing Separations for Single-Cell Analysis

August 01, 2022

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Further miniaturization of separations will greatly extend the reach of single-cell proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics, but key challenges in instrumentation, column technology, and ionization sources must be addressed.

Accelerating Sample Preparation for the Analysis of Complex Samples

August 01, 2022

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Given that sample preparation consumes over two thirds of analysis time, sample preparation becomes the bottleneck issue in analytical chemistry, resulting in the urgent necessity of developing accelerated sample preparation techniques.

Whither Gas Chromatography? New Tools ~ New Solutions

August 01, 2022

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We might well ask “Where is gas chromatography (GC) heading?” For many analysts, the answer may be just “more of the same,” reflecting that GC is mature and that most analysis tasks and sample types have been tried and tested. In this scenario, any changes to the basic method may be marginal—sample introduction, and maybe a new detector? But beneath this status quo is an undercurrent of passion, excitement, and power.

Incorporating HPLC as a Multi-Attribute Characterization Technology for Next-Generation Drug Development

August 01, 2022

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This paper provides an overview of some current and emerging physicochemical analytical challenges associated with these sophisticated drug systems and some of the technical advances needed in chromatographic systems to enable their design, development, and manufacture.