Liquid Chromatography (LC/HPLC)

A variety of chromatographic sorbents are commercially available for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) and while many of these columns are nominally similar, in practice the columns may provide significantly different separations.

The Laura data management system from LabLogic Systems (Sheffield, UK) now includes an interface for control of the Acquity UPLC system from Waters Corporation (Milford, Massachusetts).

Researchers at Beijing Normal University and the Institute of Beijing Criminal Science and Technology (China) used ion pairing high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to analyze 12 black inks and six red inks from various manufacturers in a number of countries.

ESA Biosciences, a Magellan Biosciences company (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), announced that it has received the 2008 Frost and Sullivan North American Technology Innovation Award in the field of integrated metabolomics systems.

Proxeon (Denmark) has announced it has integrated the software for its liquid chromatography platform with Thermo Fisher Scientific?s (San Jose, CA) mass spectrometry data-management system.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (San Jose, CA.) has announced that its Atlas Chromatography Data System now supports Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

Very short columns filled with 1.9 µm particles were evaluated for the ultra-fast analysis of pharmaceutical formulations. Local anæsthetic, mydriatic and anti-hypertensive agents were chosen as analytes and a method was developed and validated for each of these substances, according to ICH guidelines. Excellent quantitative performance was obtained using an optimized chromatographic system that reduces the importance of extra-column effects and cuts the analysis time to less than 15 s.

Microemulsion liquid chromatography (MELC) is a recent development offering reduced sample preparation times for complex samples and generic separation conditions applicable to a wide range of solutes. This article introduces the concepts of MELC and discusses the possible benefits and future applications.

The 9th Csaba Horváth Medal Award Symposium, to be held on April 28-29, 2009 at the Hartford Convention Center (Hartford, Connecticut), announced they are accepting papers for oral and poster presentations on the topics of Advances in Separation Technologies, Multidimensional Separations, UPLC, LC-MS, Biomarkers, and Separation of Enantiomers.

Researchers from Edificio Anexo Marie Curie (Cordoba, Spain) used coacervates of decanoic acid reverse micelles to extract priority carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in waste and surface water for subsequent analysis by liquid chromatography-fluorimetry.

SACHEM (Austin, Texas) has launched a new HPLC e-Learning program.

The move from conventional particle sizes (5 μm or higher) to smaller diameter packing materials is one of the most attractive approaches to achieve higher separating efficiency. Recently developed 3 μm polysaccharide-derived chiral stationary phases demonstrate characteristics of favourable mass transfer kinetics, high column efficiency and good column permeability. This allows the fast analysis of enantiomers using conventional HPLC instruments.

Ron Majors continues his summary of the technical highlights of HPLC 2008, discussing more hot topics from the show.

John Dolan regularly receive e-mails from readers with a wide variety of questions. As he cleans out his inbox, he chooses a few of these to share.

Penn State researchers have discovered that pesticide build-up could lead to poor honey bee health. The researchers analyzed pollen, brood, adult bees, and wax samples. The results show unprecedented levels of fluvalinate and coumaphos - pesticides used in the hives to combat varroa mites - in all comb and foundation wax samples. They also found lower levels of 70 other pesticides and metabolites of those pesticides in pollen and bees.

A group of researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno (Reno, Nevada), led by Dr. Jimi Francis, conducted a study, "Comparative Analysis of Nutrients in Baby Milk Using Varied Milk Delivery Systems." The study measured the level of nutrient loss using HPLC methods during simulated baby bottle feedings and has found that some bottle types resulted in significant loss of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) during a typical 20-min feeding.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Massachusetts) announced that it had received five Scientific Computing 2008 Readers’ Choice awards for software in four categories: laboratory information management systems (LIMS), bioinformatics, chromatography, and spectroscopy.

Chromatide has announced a partnership with Kromasil, a brand of Akzo Nobel, to develop improved chromatography media for chiral purification.

The College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia) unveiled its Integrated Science Center for the fall semester.

Micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) is a reversed-phase liquid chromatographic mode with a solution of surfactant forming micelles as the mobile phase. The interaction of solutes with the stationary phase coated with surfactant monomers, combined with the increased solubilization capability of micelles, have profound implications with regard to retention, selectivity and efficiency. Practical steps that a chromatographer involved in MLC should consider when developing an analytical procedure are described, including mobile phase preparation, column conditioning and cleaning.

The move from conventional particle sizes (5 μm or higher) to smaller diameter packing materials is one of the most attractive approaches to achieve higher separating efficiency. Recently developed 3 μm polysaccharide-derived chiral stationary phases demonstrate characteristics of favourable mass transfer kinetics, high column efficiency and good column permeability. This allows the fast analysis of enantiomers using conventional HPLC instruments.

The National Center for Research Resources, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, has granted the University of Wisconsin- Madison a $1.6 million federal grant to purchase a mass spectrometer, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, and a liquid-chromatography system, integrated into a single instrument.

JASCO and Princeton Chromatography have announced a collaboration in the areas of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) instrumentation and column manufacturing.

Scientists from Taiwan have developed a method for dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of ionisable compounds that renders it compatible with reversed-phase HPLC by combining it with in-syringe back extraction. The new system was demonstrated with the removal of the drug clenbuterol from water.

Currently papers are being accepted for the 9th Csaba Horvath Medal Award Symposium to be held on April 28-29, 2009 at the Hartford Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut.