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Special Issues

Mixed-mode high performance liquid chromatography (MM-HPLC) involves the combined use of two (or more) retention mechanisms in a single chromatographic system. Many original stationary phases have been proposed in recent years with promising possibilities, while applications have only started to appear in the literature. In this review, the authors discuss mixed-mode chromatography stationary phases. An overview of applications using mixed-mode chromatography is described, as well as the increased interest in mixed-mode systems for two-dimensional chromatography.

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Special Issues

Enantioselective high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is slowly adopting the modern particle technologies (sub-2-µm fully porous particles [FPPs] and sub-3-µm superficially porous silica particles [SPPs]) that have been well known in reversed-phase LC for the past decade. The most significant benefit is that enantiomer separations can be performed much faster, which is of interest in high-throughput screening applications and multidimensional enantioselective HPLC analysis. The state of the art is briefly discussed with some examples documenting the potential of core–shell particle technology and comprehensive multidimensional separations.

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Special Issues

The aim of this article is to illustrate the current status of computer-assisted method development and retention modelling. This study focuses on the successful method development of typical small pharmaceutical compounds (impurity profiling) and large therapeutic proteins. By choosing appropriate initial conditions, the method development can be performed in less than one day. However, for small molecules possessing different physicochemical properties, the conditions can be multifarious, while for biopharmaceuticals (for example, monoclonal antibodies [mAbs], antibody–drug conjugates [ADCs]), a generic method can easily be developed. In addition to retention modelling and optimization, the potential of simulated robustness testing is also demonstrated. Depending on the applied retention model, the impact of any change among six experimental parameters (tG, T, pH, ternary composition, flow rate, and initial- and final mobile phase compositions) on the separation can be assessed using a 26 or 36 type virtual

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The Application Notebook

Quality and consistency in reagents is critical to successful drug discovery and development. When targeting a particular protein of interest, in vitro experiments should be performed with proteins of biological properties similar to those for in vivo tests. It is important that molecularity, purity, shape, and degree of heterogeneity remain the same when any alterations are made to the model protein or the formulation buffer. Multi-angle light scattering (MALS) combined with size-exclusion chromatography (SEC-MALS) is a very useful technique to monitor the solution properties of the protein as changes to reagents are made.

A novel unit that integrates sampling and analysis for the determination of pest insect sexual pheromones in environmental air using fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) and headspace gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HSGC–MS) has been developed at the University of Córdoba in Spain.

The Column

3M, the science-based technology company, has commissioned the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) to conduct in-depth research into their Emphaze AEX Hybrid Purifier, a single use plug and play filter matrix.

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The Column

Incognito delves into some statistics on chromatography research, and is unsettled by what he finds.

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The Column

Novel psychoactive substances pose a major challenge for forensic toxicology and drug-seizure laboratories because of the scale and speed at which these new “designer drugs” are entering the market. To keep pace with the threat, laboratories require robust full-scan detection techniques capable of both targeted drug screening and the identification of unexpected compounds too. Here, a full-scan gas chromatography (GC) coupled to high-resolution accurate mass (HRAM) approach for the profiling of known and unknown drugs of abuse is presented.

The LCGC Blog

I guess we have all had the issue at some time or other. A blank injection of eluent (or a zero volume dummy injection) gives rise to discreet peaks on the chromatographic baseline which may interfere with analyte peaks or increase the complexity of the chromatogram obtained, especially when performing trace analysis.chromatogram obtained, especially when performing trace analysis. Of course this is an undesirable situation and one which can be difficult to understand or troubleshoot as, if we didn’t inject anything, how on earth do we end up with discrete beaks in the blank chromatogram? The secret to understanding the phenomenon lies in understanding the mechanisms of gradient of HPLC.

The LCGC Blog

As part of the Earth Day celebration in Dallas, Texas, last month, the Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation (CLEAR) at U.T. Arlington hosted the first annual Responsible Shale Energy Extraction (RSEE) symposium (www.shalescience.org). We had an exceptional range of speakers who conveyed all sides of the issue, including U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and atmospheric scientist Dr. Katherine Hayhoe from Texas Tech University, one of Time’s top 100 most influential people. We had representatives from major oil producers, environmental groups, land management groups, water recycling service companies, and scientists conversant on many key issues related to unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction. Even though we have been very involved in this conversation for the past several years, several points stood out.