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Click the title above to open the LCGC Europe October 2016 regular issue, Vol 29, No 10, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the LCGC Europe October 2016 Advances in Pharmaceutical Analysis Supplement, Vol 29, No s10, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the LCGC North America October 2016 regular issue, Vol 34 No 10, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the October 2016 issue of Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry, Volume 14, Number 4, in an interactive PDF format.

The quantitative extraction and subsequent purification of trace contaminants from (semi-)solid environmental and food matrices of regular size (that is, a few grams) is still recognized as a challenging task, typically accomplished through relatively complex off-line multistep treatment procedures. When these conventional sample preparation procedures are applied to the treatment of size-limited samples (of less than 1 g), the difficulties increase. This review discusses the different analytical strategies that can be adopted to overcome (or at least reduce) these difficulties when chromatographic techniques are involved for final instrumental determination.

Brian Rohrback, PhD, president of Infometrix Inc., in Bothell Washington, will receive the International Society of Automation’s (ISA) Excellence in Analytical Technical Innovation Award.

What are the problem-solving skills required to succeed in analytical chemistry?

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a potent greenhouse gas in the troposphere, while in the stratosphere it contributes to ozone destruction. Global atmospheric models treat anthropogenic industrial processes as the sole source of atmospheric CCl4. However, some evidence suggests that biogenic sources may also contribute. This article describes grab-sampling with analysis by thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD–GC–MS) to assess levels of CCl4 in a Central Amazonian rainforest. We find that ambient air mixing ratios within and above the forest, while agreeing with current equatorial estimates (120 ppt), show diurnal and canopy-height variations that suggest a biogenic source of CCl4, and therefore may be important for closing the gaps in the global atmospheric CCl4 budget.

Biotage AB has announced the purchase of shares in the Danish biomolecule company Chreto Aps, representing a significant investment into the area of drug development.

What are the motivations and events that drive a successful separation scientist? This is the question that CASSS seeks to answer by documenting the lives and careers of the analytical chemists who have won their “Outstanding Achievements in Separation Science” Award.

Click the title above to open The Column September 21, 2016 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 12, Number 17, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column September 21, 2016 North American issue, Volume 12, Number 17, in an interactive PDF format.

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I’ve often written about the “lazy” chromatography which has swept through our industry, whereby 0.1% (w/w or w/v!) TFA or Formic acid is used to “buffer” the eluent system well away from the pKa of analyte molecules, leaving most acidic analytes in the ion suppressed form and most basic analytes in the ionized form. This approach avoids having issues with retention time drift and effectively eliminates pH as a variable used to control retention or selectivity for separations involving ionogenic analytes.

Agilent Technologies has acquired 20 acres of land in Weld County, Colorado, USA, on which to build a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.

Researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) have developed a rapid, accurate, and precise method to quantify water content in solid pharmaceutical drugs using headspace gas chromatography (HSGC) (1).

Waters Corporation has welcomed Dr. Sunghwan Kim of Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea, into the Waters Centers of Innovation (COI) programme. Kim’s research focuses on polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment, developing and applying analytical techniques to assess their impact.

This article describes the use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and tandem ionization for characterization and comparison of the composition of essential oils, aiding rigorous quality control.

Kevin A. Schug discusses how matrix-assisted laser desorption–ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) is one of the most versatile tools for fingerprinting mixtures.