July 26th 2024
Here are the top five articles published on LCGC International this week.
Investigating Off-Odours in Wine Using GC–O
January 17th 2017The aroma of a wine is an important part of the wine tasting experience. Angela Lopez-Pinar from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, has been investigating off-odours in wine using gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC–O). She recently spoke to us about this research.
Analyzing VOCs from the Great Barrier Reef
November 25th 2016Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) stretches over 2300 km and is composed of over 3000 individual reef systems. The health of the reef therefore often comes under international scrutiny. Hilton Swan from Southern Cross University in Australia has been investigating volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from the Great Barrier Reef using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). He recently spoke to us about this work.
Contemporary Trends in Ion Chromatography
November 7th 2016Ion chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (IC-MS) does not follow the same rules as coupling other modes of liquid chromatography to mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Leon Barron from the Analytical & Environmental Science Division, at King’s College London, UK, reveals some of the misconceptions surrounding IC and discusses contemporary trends and novel applications for this inventive technique.
Measuring Phytosterols in Fortified Food
October 17th 2016A balanced diet is one step closer to a healthy lifestyle. Samantha Duong from the Australian Government’s National Measurement Institute (NMI) has used gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC–FID) to measure phytosterols in fortified food. She recently spoke to us about this research.
The Challenge of Accurate Protein Bioanalysis
October 4th 2016Traditionally, the most common approach for protein quantification in bioanalysis (that is, analysis of a protein in a biological sample or system) has been to use ligand-binding assays. In recent years, however, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS-MS) methods have been increasingly adopted to monitor the fate of drugs in vivo, particularly for small-molecule drugs. The measurement of protein-based pharmaceuticals (biopharmaceuticals) is challenging, however, because proteins are susceptible to various modifications that can change their structure and biological activity. Rainer Bischoff of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands has been studying this challenge and exploring approaches to overcome it. He recently spoke to us about this work.
Identifying and Discovering Marine Lipid Biomarkers Using LOBSTAHS
September 22nd 2016Discovering and identifying molecular biomarkers in large LC–MS data sets requires automation without loss of accuracy. Benjamin Van Mooy from the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution reveals a lipidomics strategy using LOBSTAHS to identify lipid, oxidized lipid, and oxylipin biomarkers in high mass accuracy HPLC– MS data.
Improving Biopharmaceutical Purification Using LFMC
September 21st 2016Biopharmaceutical purification techniques can be slow and cumbersome with poor scalability. A new device using laterally-fed membrane chromatography (LFMC) was developed to address these issues. Raja Ghosh from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, spoke to The Column about this new device and its potential applications.
Investigating Baby Food Using HILIC–MS/MS
July 20th 2016Babies and infants experience rapid growth within a short timeframe and the nutrition that they absorb is therefore of the utmost importance. María Mateos-Vivas from the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition, and Food Science at the University of Salamanca, Spain, has used hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to investigate the role of nucleotides on infant health. She recently spoke to us about this research.
Innovating Microfluidic Technologies
July 19th 2016The future of biological and clinical research will depend on technological innovations and cross discipline co-operation as science seeks a deeper understanding of increasingly complex biological systems. The 2016 recipient of the AES Mid-Career Award, Amy Herr, and her team at the University of California Berkeley have explored these areas using a combination of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering with strong foundations in biology, material science, and analytical chemistry to innovate new microfluidic analytical technology. She recently spoke to LCGC about this work.
Detecting Carcinogens in Drinking Water
June 22nd 2016Water contamination has come to the forefront of global debate as a result of high profile cases such as those in Flint, Michigan, USA or the pollution of the Ganges River in India. Koji Kosaka of the National Institute of Public Health, Japan, has investigated the contamination of the Yodo River Basin in Japan, with the precursors of the carcinogen N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). He recently spoke to LCGC about his use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to uncover the source of contamination and the chemical precursors responsible.
Debby Mangelings, LCGC’s 2016 Emerging Leader Award Winner, Focuses on Chiral Separations
March 31st 2016Debby Mangelings, the winner of the 2016 LCGC Emerging Leader in Chromatography award, is an associate professor in the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in Brussels, Belgium. Mangelings’s work has focused primarily on chiral separations. Mangelings recently spoke to LCGC about her scientific background, interests, and recent work.
Analyzing Antarctic Ice Cores Using Capillary IC
March 14th 2016Ice cores contain an abundance of information about climate and the changes it is undergoing. Brett Paull and Estrella Sanz Rodriguez from the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, spoke to Kate Mosford of The Column about their work on the analysis of Antarctic ice cores and the important role of capillary ion chromatography (cap-IC) in this area of research.
Milton L. Lee: LCGC’s 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
February 29th 2016Milton L. Lee is best known for his achievements in capillary separation techniques (emphasis on column technology and instrumentation), his entrepreneurial activities in scientific instrument companies, and his tenure as a chemistry professor for almost 40 years at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he has held the position of H. Tracy Hall Professor of Chemistry from 1985 to the present. Lee recently spoke to LCGC about his career and work.
Can SBWC Replace HPLC in Pharmaceutical Analysis?
February 17th 2016Subcritical water chromatography (SBWC) is seen as an increasingly enticing prospect to replace high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in industrial settings because of its low costs and environmental impact. Yu Yang of East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina, USA, has conducted research into this process for two decades. He recently spoke to LCGC about his work, why companies should consider SBWC, and its role in pharmaceutical analysis.
Analyzing Brominated Flame Retardants in Food Using GC–APCI-MS–MS
January 17th 2016Gas chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (GC–APCI) offers increased limits of sensitivity in food analysis. Carlos Sales Martinez from the Research Institute of Pesticides and Water in the University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain, has been exploring the novelty of this technique for the analysis of food samples. He recently spoke to LCGC about this work.
A Collaborative Approach to Water Analysis
December 10th 2015Contaminants in surface water and drinking water supplies arising from pharmaceutical and personal care product use as well as other compound sources pose a difficult challenge for analytical chemists. Thomas Letzel from the Technical University of Munich in Germany spoke to LCGC to discuss collaborative research taking place in Europe to address contaminants of emerging concern in water analysis.
The Power of Planar Chromatography
December 1st 2015High performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) offers many advantages over conventional separation techniques when applied to complex samples. The Column interviewed Gertrud Morlock from Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany, on her current research, which involves hyphenating HPTLC with multiple analytical techniques.
Environmental Forensics in the Workplace
November 5th 2015Populations worldwide are exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that can be harmful to human health. The Column spoke to David Megson from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, about recent developments in assessing human exposure to PCBs and chiral enantiomer fractions (EFs) in the workplace.
Analyzing Persistent and Emerging Contaminants in Food
October 5th 2015Preventing environmental contaminants from getting in to the food chain is of paramount importance to us all. Yelena Sapozhnikova, a Research Chemist at the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Wyndmoor, PA, USA, spoke to The Column about her research into the development and evaluation of analytical methods for persistent and emerging organic chemical contaminants in food samples.
Untargeted Metabolomics for Marine Pollution Analysis Using GC–MS
September 8th 2015Marine polychaetes are a common type of annelid worm widely spread in marine environments. Raquel Fernandez from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, spoke to Aladair Matheson of The Column about her innovative approach to developing an untargeted method to monitor polychaetes and assess their potential use in environmental monitoring of oil spills.
Improving Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Analysis Using the Kendrick Mass Defect
August 21st 2015The Kendrick mass defect combined with liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC–QTOF-MS) can offer a variety of benefits to analysts investigating groundwater contamination. The Column spoke to Thomas Borch from Colorado State University in Colorado, USA, about his work in this area to find out more.
Monitoring Drug Behaviour Using High Performance Affinity Chromatography (HPAC)
August 20th 2015There is a growing demand in the pharmaceutical industry for fast and selective separation methods to monitor drug behaviour in small-volume biological samples. David S. Hage from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA, has recently developed a series of methods using affinity chromatography and related techniques for this purpose. LCGC interviewed him on this work.
Modern Sample Preparation Methods for POPs
August 1st 2015Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pose an on-going threat to human health, but are often trapped within environmental samples, thereby making analysis challenging. Bethany Degg of The Column spoke to Lourdes Ramos from the Department of Instrumental Analysis and Environmental Chemistry Institute of Organic Chemistry of the CSIC (Madrid, Spain) about her innovative research on new sample preparation methods for POPs.
Solid-Phase Microextraction in Clinical Diagnostics
July 24th 2015Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are collaborating with clinicians at Toronto General Hospital to develop preclinical and clinical applications of solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Bethany Degg of The Column spoke to Barbara Bojko from the team to find out more.
Analyzing Persistent and Emerging Contaminants in Food
July 22nd 2015Preventing environmental contaminants from getting in to the food chain is of paramount importance to us all. Yelena Sapozhnikova, a Research Chemist at the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Wyndmoor, PA, USA, spoke to LCGC about her research into the development and evaluation of analytical methods for persistent and emerging organic chemical contaminants in food samples.