All News

ChromSoc’s Advances in Gas Chromatography meeting will take place at The Heath Business and Technical Park, Runcorn, Cheshire, UK, on the 18 October 2017.

Eurofins Scientific has announced the acquisition of Nab Labs Group, one of the largest independent environment testing laboratories in Finland.

Phenomenex Inc. has announced the opening of a new manufacturing and development facility dedicated to the company’s gas chromatography columns.

Shigeru Terabe has received the Arnold O. Beckman Medal and Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievements in the Field of Electro-Drive Separation Techniques. The Sciex sponsored award was presented to Terabe as part of a Special Award Plenary Session at the 33rd International Symposium on Microscale Bioseparations (MSB 2017).

Researchers investigating fragments of black organic matter found scattered at the 7th century ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, UK, have discovered the material is not what it was originally identified as.

How do you deal with problems that arise in the laboratory?

Recent developments in the miniaturization of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) instrumentation are making the technique available for field-based investigations, offering a simple, onsite identification of drug substances. This article describes the identification of sixteen drugs compounds in less than 10 min using portable gas chromatograph-toroidal ion trap mass spectrometry combined with a coiled-wire-filament (CWF) sampling injector to provide an effective tool for the rapid analysis of illicit drug substances.

ITP 2017 will be held 10–13 September 2017 at the Sheraton Hotel in Sopot, Poland. This preview offers a flavour of what to expect.

Click the title above to open The Column July 11, 2017 North American issue, Volume 13, Number 10, in an interactive PDF format.

Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography can be a very useful tool in our analytical armory, however there are some practical peculiarities to this chromatographic mode which need to be understood in order to ensure success. 

• Raptor C18 SPP 5 μm core-shell silica particle columns offer excellent resolution for fluorochemicals with short total cycle times. For even faster analysis, 2.7 μm core-shell particles are available. • Meets EPA Method 537 requirements. • Unique, robust Raptor C18 column design increases instrument uptime.

Utilizing Hamilton’s CO-RE® disposable tips with DPX technology provides a fast, accurate, and simple extraction method for analyzing drugs of abuse in urine. The Microlab NIMBUS equipped with a CO-RE 96-channel Multi-Probe Head (MPH) allows for high-throughput, automated sample processing.

The US EPA monitors a variety of chemicals in water that may cause harm to humans or wildlife to minimize exposure.

Get the most from your method by considering what you want it to do and setting appropriate chromatographic parameters.

Fabrice Gritti discusses how to separate and quantify both volatile and nonvolatile compounds in complex mixtures.

Small differences in process gas chromatography (GC) results from the same sample stream over time can indicate corresponding changes in target analyte concentrations, or the fluctuations might be due to external influences on the instrument. This instalment of ”GC Connections” explores ways to examine such results and better understand their significance.

The 23rd International Symposium on Separation Science (ISSS 2017) will be held in Vienna, Austria, from 19–22 September 2017.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are found worldwide and are emitted from a number of sources including fossil fuel, coal and shale oil derivatives, coke production, and burning wood for home heating, and generally arise from incomplete combustion. Surface water supplies, such as water in ponds, may be used for recreational purposes or become a drinking water source. Characterization of PAHs and their concentration is of interest in maintaining public health.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids are man-made fluorochemicals used as surface-active agents in the manufacture of a variety of products, such as firefighting foams, coating additives, textiles, and cleaning products. They have been detected in the environment globally and are used in very large quantities around the world. These fluorochemicals are extremely persistent and resistant to typical environmental degradation processes. As a result, they are widely distributed across the higher trophic levels and are found in soil, air, groundwater, municipal refuse, and landfill leachates. The toxicity, mobility, and bioaccumulation potential of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in particular, pose potential adverse effects for the environment and human health.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by several species of fungi and are considered one of the most significant contaminants of agricultural commodities, both in the field and in storage. Agricultural products that may be affected include cereals, spices, dried fruits, and various nuts. Although hundreds of mycotoxins are known, relatively few are considered to pose a significant health risk. Aflatoxins, in particular aflatoxin B1, are genotoxic and carcinogenic and may cause liver cancer in humans, whilst ochratoxin A and the trichothecenes HT-2 and T-2 can cause various toxic effects. Monitoring and control of certain mycotoxins is important within the food industry because of their potential toxicity at low levels to both humans and animals.

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) allows isolation and identification of individual analytes within a complex mixture. Helium has traditionally been the first-choice carrier gas, owing to its inertness, performance, and relatively cheap price. Since 2001, however, helium has become increasingly expensive with a reported global increase in price of 500% between 2001 and 2016 (1). In 2012–2013, the global helium shortage increased the number of GC users switching to alternative carrier gases and improved the availability of information on their use.