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Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was introduced nearly 30 years ago and since that time has matured into a widely used tool in the arsenal of sample preparation techniques. Simultaneously, it has spawned a host of related techniques where sorbent coatings are placed on stir bars, magnetic particles, vial walls, and so on. Over the past few years, several advances in SPME have been developed, including increasing the sorbent surface area available for extraction, accommodating direct analysis by mass spectrometry (MS), and sorbent overcoating to resist fouling by sugars, lipids, and other macromolecules present in some sample types. These advances are discussed in this month’s instalment. The use of SPME for microsampling of biological systems, so-called bio-SPME, will be the focus of Part 2.

Click the title above to open the LCGC Europe March 2019 regular issue, Vol 32, No 03, in an interactive PDF format.

One millimetre internal diameter liquid chromatography columns are available from many manufacturers. In this article, the utility of 1.0-mm internal diameter (i.d.) columns, and the arenas in which they play a relatively strong role, are investigated. Further, the advantages and disadvantages of 1.0 mm diameter columns are contrasted with both larger- and smaller-bore formats.

The 48th International Symposium on High Performance Liquid Phase Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC 2019) will be held 16–20 June 2019 at the Milano-Bicocca University, Milan, Italy. This is the first time that this symposium will be held in Italy.

In the present study, a novel GC–MS TQ method was developed and validated for the simultaneous analysis of 2-MCPD, 3-MCPD, and glycidyl fatty acid esters in edible oil. This method was subsequently applied to quantitation of these contaminants in commercial edible oil samples.

In this study, we aimed to use a charge modulated HILIC stationary phase (iHILIC®-Fusion) to separate different siderophores of the Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120 bacteria.

This application note outlines a simple three-step method for the extraction of loperamide and its main metabolite, N-desmethyl loperamide, from blood. UCT’s Clean Screen® XCEL I column provides users with the same level of sample clean-up as traditional SPE while allowing the elimination of timely conditioning and wash steps.

For your highly sensitive UHPLC–MS analyses, how can you reduce noise and additional signals to a minimum?

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a crucial mechanism of action (MoA) of anti-tumour therapeutic antibodies and FcγIIIa receptor plays a key role in this process by interacting with the N-glycans of IgG Fc regions. Hence, affinity chromatography on Fc receptor ligands can deliver valuable information about expected ADCC activity and mAb glycoform distribution.

Branching affects macroscopic polymer properties such as crystallinity, melting temperature, toughness, ductility, and optical clarity. Two types of branching are long-chain branching (LCB) and short-chain branching (SCB), wherein the molar mass of the branches is larger or smaller than the entanglement molar mass, respectively.

Click the title above to open the LCGC North America March 2019 issue, Volume 37, Number 3, in an interactive PDF format.

The Column spoke to Jane Hill from Dartmouth College, USA, about her group’s development of a breath analysis method for tuberculosis diagnosis using multidimensional GC×GC–TOF-MS.

Pittcon celebrates its 70th year with thousands of chromatographers from around the globe and a range of industries taking over the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, from 17–21 March 2019 for a week of education, research, instrumentation, and networking.

Click the title above to open the Current Trends In Mass Spectrometry March 2019 special issue in an interactive PDF format.

The challenges we face in troubleshooting problems with liquid chromatography (LC) separations are highly diverse. This month we take a closer look at topics that have garnered more attention recently.

This article discusses the use of emerging technologies that are complementary to established techniques, to significantly reduce these shortcomings for both synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones. In this vein, the utility of recently reported approaches including ultrahigh performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC)–photodiode array (PDA) ultraviolet (UV)–MS, and GC–vacuum UV is discussed. To increase the specificity of analysis, multiple chromatographic techniques are commonly used. For the analysis of emerging drugs, a combination of GC and UHPSFC is recommended. The utility of a previously unreported coupled-columns approach for UHPSFC to significantly enhance resolution of synthetic cathinones is presented.

Biotherapeutics have become the hottest topic in pharmaceutical research over the past decade. With the increased interest in biotherapeutics, there has been a concomitant increase in new analytical methods for characterizing these large, complex molecules. This installment of “Column Watch” discusses advances in “bottom-up” analysis of monoclonal antibodies, while highlighting the role and importance column chemistry still plays in developing highly selective high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods for peptides.

A discussion of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) theory and its application to the analysis of proteins and biomolecules is presented.

In plant metabolomics, molecular fingerprints and additional molecular descriptors can be identified using recent developments in polarity-extended separations with serial coupling of reversed-phase LC and HILIC combined with ESI-TOF-MS.

A new high-throughput LC–MS/MS method meets the challenge of eliminating matrix effects for monitoring, with high specificity, polar organic pesticides such as glyphosate in food and water, while meeting targeted limits of detection.

Forensic scientists often encounter highly complex analytical problems related to crime scenes that would benefit from the capabilities of GC×GC–MS. However, this technique has not been fully explored to help benefit forensic laboratories.

Data-independent acquisition (DIA) makes it possible to re-interrogate data from earlier analyses to determine if new compounds have appeared in a sample previously analyzed. In this interview, Craig Wheelock of the Karolinska Institute discusses the use of DIA in metabolomics.

We assess the advantages and disadvantages of 1.0-mm diameter columns.

A hybrid system is the worst possible choice for managing your regulated data.

In method transfer, carefully aligning the modules of the two systems is essential.

A new method to analyze low concentrations of the drug diclofenac in wastewater.

Pressure tuning makes it easy to change the orthogonality in the 2D space.

Ken Broeckhoven explains his pursuit of ever higher performance in HPLC.