Topic

Articles

A panel discussion on the latest advances and future developments in gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS).

Trends and Developments in GC and GC–MS

Max Allsworth is the Chief Science Officer at Owlstone Medical and has over 15 years’ experience in the development of trace chemical detection technologies. He has developed sensor technologies for a vast range of applications including personal safety, food contamination and environmental monitoring.

Biomarker studies using exhaled breath are rapidly emerging as a technique for early disease detection and precision medicine. By offering a completely non-invasive experience for patients as an alternative to painful biopsy procedures. A new approach has the potential to enhance patient compliance, while making clinical workflows simpler. Exhaled breath analysis, however, requires a highly sensitive analytical technique capable of accurately measuring the broad range of volatiles present in breath. In this article, we present a proof-of-concept study to demonstrate a reliable and sensitive method to detect analytes in breath samples. Using high‑resolution accurate mass (HRAM) mass spectrometry (MS), the method validates how low- and high-abundance biomarkers can be quantified from exhaled breath.

Detecting Biomarkers in Breath using GC–MS

In gas chromatography, heating the sample in the inlet can lead to sample losses and loss of quantitative reproducibility, but these problems can be avoided using cold sample introduction. This article describes various types of cold injection and how they can benefit the analyst.

Beat the Heat: Cold Injections in Gas Chromatography

PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs are toxic compounds categorized as POPs and are ubiquitous throughout the world. Detecting trace levels of PCDD and PCDF is important to monitor food supplies and to ensure industrial emissions meet regulatory standards. In line with the ongoing innovation in dioxin analysis technology, the US EPA is currently evaluating a new method-APGC–MS/MS-for PCDD and PCDF confirmatory analysis. Joe Romano and Douglas Stevens from Waters Corporation discuss the benefits of this new method.

Achieving Highly Sensitive Dioxin Analysis with Novel GC–MS Methods

The Column spoke to Nelson Roberto Antoniosi Filho, a professor at the Chemistry Institute of the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), in Goiânia, Brazil, about his development of a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method for cancer diagnosis using cerumen.

Diagnosing Cancer Using Cerumen and HSGC–MS

In this study, the intentional incorporation of an air bubble into a solvent droplet is proposed for fully automated bubble-in-drop microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (BID-GC–MS) analysis of selected organochlorine pesticides as model analytes.

Development of Fully Automated Bubble-in-Drop Microextraction–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry of Organochlorine Pesticides in Environmental Waters

In this study, chemicals extracted from a food packaging plastic film with a series of organic solvents were tentatively identified with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC–TOF–MS). A total of 91 compounds were tentatively identified in the film extracts, based on high mass spectral matching with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) mass spectral (MS) library.

Suspect Screening of Chemicals  in Food Packaging Plastic Film  by Comprehensive Two‑ Dimensional Gas Chromatography Coupled to Time‑of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Chemical fingerprinting can provide evidence for quality differences resulting from botanical and geographical origins of primary food ingredients, post-harvest practices, production processes (such as traditional versus industrial processes), and the shelf-life evolution of finished products. This article discusses the strategic role and potential of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and pattern recognition using template matching for data processing to unravel the quality traits of high-quality food products. Practical examples dealing with high-quality cocoa and extra-virgin olive oil are described.

GC×GC–TOF-MS and Comprehensive Fingerprinting of Volatiles in Food: Capturing the Signature of Quality

This article reviews the changing role of mass spectrometry (MS) hyphenated to reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC) and alternative separation techniques in late-stage pharmaceutical development. The impact of the changing portfolios within the pharmaceutical industry is discussed as the industry moves from a traditional small-molecule model to a more diverse portfolio. A new generation of high‑resolution mass spectrometers and ion mobility mass spectrometers operating as orthogonal separation techniques has greatly increased the ability to resolve impurities and increase the level of knowledge gained from a single experiment. The continued impact and innovation of gas chromatographyÐmass spectrometry (GCÐMS) in late-stage development is also discussed.