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Purnendu (Sandy) Dasgupta has received the 2016 EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry. The award was presented to him at the Eastern Analytical Symposium conference in Somerset, New Jersey, on November 14.

Chromatography pioneer J.J. (Jack) Kirkland died on Sunday, October 30, after a short illness. He was 91 years old.

As I wrote the title of this month’s installment, I could not help but wonder where the cliché “more than one way to skin a cat” came from. Turns out it is from Mark Twain in his 1889 work, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I have never read that book, but I certainly have heard this saying used more than once-even if it might offend some cat lovers. Of course, it means simply that there is more than one way to do something.

Researchers have investigated the use of size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) for size distribution analysis of influenza virus particles.

Agilent Technologies Inc. has named Roeland G.W. Verhaak, of the Jackson Laboratory (JAX), the winner of the company’s Early Career Professor Award. Verhaak was selected for his contributions to the implementation of transcriptomics, genomics, and big-data analysis to the classification and diagnosis of various cancer types.

Researchers from Postnova Analytics, Landsberg, Germany, have developed a quantitative method to detect traces of toxic metals in tattoo ink using asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation in combination with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (AF4-ICP-MS).

Long-term measurements to determine the quantity and chemical composition of suspended particles at high temporal resolution are useful to gain insight into the effects of particulate matter on health and the environment. In the south-east of Scotland, such measurements are being taken as part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP), which focuses on the monitoring and evaluation of the long-range, transboundary transmission of air-polluting substances in Europe. The programme serves to regularly equip European governments with the scientific knowledge required to reduce air pollution and mitigate its effects.

Kevin A. Schug reveals the major method validation protocol deficiencies he discovered when he reviewed a blood alcohol investigation and discusses how matrix effects possibly resulted in blood alcohol concentrations being over-estimated, resulting in a potentially significant injustice.

Click the title above to open The Column November 07, 2016 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 12, Number 20, in an interactive PDF format.

Five simple pictures that reveal problems with your GC analysis – and how to fix them!

What could be causing a peak to be eluted before the column dead time?

The use of antibodies in “bottom-up” LC–MS workflows to determine low abundant biological active proteins in complex human samples has increased in recent years: immuno-capture analysis combines the workflow of conventional immunological assays with LC–MS analysis. This paper describes typical challenges, such as cross reactivity and the mass spectrometer’s dynamic range, as well as the advantages of isoform differentiation and multiplexing. Additionally, some experimental formats of immuno-capture bottom-up LC–MS analysis of biological active proteins in complex human samples will be discussed.

The 44th International Symposium of High Performance Liquid Phase Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC 2016), chaired by Professor Robert Kennedy, was held 19–24 June in San Francisco, California, USA, at the Marriott San Francisco Marquis. This instalment of “Column Watch” covers some of the highlights observed at the symposium, including stationary-phase developments, particle technology, and areas of growing application of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, trends and perspectives on future developments in HPLC noted from the conference are presented.

A chiral ionic liquid, namely 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazole L-tartrate ([EMIM][L-Tar]), was applied as a new chiral ligand for the separation of tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine enantiomers by chiral ligand exchange capillary electrophoresis (CE). To validate the unique behaviour of [EMIM][L-Tar], the performance of L-tartaric acid and 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazole L-proline as chiral ligands was investigated to make a comparison with [EMIM][L-Tar]. Then the separation mechanism was further discussed. It was proven that [EMIM][L-Tar] was a good chiral ligand and would have good application prospects in separation science.

What could be causing a peak to be eluted before the column dead time?

Blood is perhaps the most widely used sample fluid in bioanalysis. Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling has been used in clinical applications for more than 50 years, but it is recently seeing a resurgence of interest. DBS sampling holds several advantages associated with the use of small sample sizes obtained via finger pricks, including simplicity and biohazard reduction. In the previous instalment, we gave an overview of microsampling in bioanalysis (1). This month, we dig deeper into bioanalysis using DBS sampling.

This month’s “GC Connections” continues the discussion of procedures for safe setup, use, and disposal of compressed gas cylinders in the chromatography laboratory.

Although enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is a prevalent screening technique, it is also prone to issues such as high false positive rates because of lack of analyte specificity. Mass spectrometry was therefore investigated as an alternative screening technique for the ability to improve analyte specificity on a comparable time scale. In this study, a rapid on-line sample preparation and injection (ROSPI) method was developed using a commercially available guard cartridge on a conventional liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) system. Using a two-point calibration curve to provide semi-quantitation, a robust method was developed and validated that improved upon the high false positive rate observed in immunoassay screening.

The 41st International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography (ISCC) and the 14th GC×GC Symposium will return to the city of Fort Worth “Gateway to the West”, Texas, USA, in 2017.

An introduction from the guest editors of this special supplement