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Tony Taylor is Group Technical Director of Crawford Scientific Group and CHROMacademy. His background is in pharmaceutical R&D and polymer chemistry, but he has spent the past 20 years in training and consulting, working with Crawford Scientific Group clients to ensure they attain the very best analytical science possible. He has trained and consulted with thousands of analytical chemists globally and is passionate about professional development in separation science, developing CHROMacademy as a means to provide high-quality online education to analytical chemists. His current research interests include HPLC column selectivity codification, advanced automated sample preparation, and LCâMS and GCâMS for materials characterization, especially in the field of extractables and leachables analysis.

Articles

Which key efficiency techniques can maximize your analytical  goals? This instalment of the LCGC Blog begins by describing the principles and optimization of liquid-liquid extraction (LLE).

Inexpensive, Quick, and Selective: Seeking the Holy Grail of Sample Extraction

It is important to develop analytical methods to detect  crude MCHM components in environmental water samples. This article describes two microextractive methods based on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in fibre format and thin film microextraction (TFME) that were developed and validated for 4-MCHM and other constituents of crude MCHM.

Exploring the Efficiency of Various Extraction Approaches for Determination of Crude MCHM Constituents in Environmental Samples

Douglas E. Raynie explores formal and informal training opportunities that may be available to educate all chemists in the fundamentals of necessary laboratory sample preparation skills.

The (Mis)education of an Analyst

Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883– 1970) was an American self-help author once described as ”the most famous conman you’ve probably never heard of” (1 ). Conman maybe, but there is a quote of his that I believe to be particularly true when considering sample preparation for chromatography techniques; ”The one who tries to get something for nothing generally winds up getting nothing for something.”

The LCGC Blog: Inexpensive, Quick, and Selective: Seeking the Holy Grail of Sample Extraction

In electromembrane extraction (EME), the target analyte is extracted from an aqueous sample across a supported liquid membrane (SLM) and analyzed using LC. Through the study presented here, we demonstrate the principles of the technique and test its performance.

Electromembrane Extraction with Vials of Conducting Polymer

Kevin A. Schug is a Full Professor and Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The University of Texas (UT) at Arlington. He joined the faculty at UT Arlington in 2005 after completing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Virginia Tech under the direction of Prof. Harold M. McNair and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Vienna under Prof. Wolfgang Lindner. Research in the Schug group spans fundamental and applied areas of separation science and mass spectrometry. Schug was named the LCGC Emerging Leader in Chromatography in 2009, and most recently has been named the 2012 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Young Investigator in Separation Science awardee.

When working with complex samples, we need effective approaches to deal with matrix interferences. Here, we outline methods of sample preparation, on-line sample treatment, and instrument tools that can help. We also provide examples of applications and guidance for how to evaluate the best option for your complex sample.

Overview of Methods and Considerations for Handling Complex Samples

This selection of influential recent papers on chromatographic sample preparation gives us a sense of important developments.

Sample Preparation in the Rearview Mirror: Looking Back on 2019

A top-down approach to quantifying intact proteins from biological fluids using liquid chromatography–triple quadrupole–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) offers the potential for more absolute quantitation than bottom-up approaches. To make this broadly viable, however, commercial sample preparation tools are needed.

Commercial Sample Preparation Materials for Isolation of Intact Proteins from Biological Samples are Absent in the Marketplace

Paper-based sorptive phases are promising tools in sample preparation because of their high surface-to-volume ratio, porosity, and versatility. This article discusses the synthesis of paper-based sorptive phases by dip coating. This procedure has allowed a wide variety of phases coated with polymers, nanoparticles, and their combination to be synthesized. This article presents the synthesis, types of coatings, and extraction devices, to highlight the versatility and potential of these materials to the analytical community, particularly for sample preparation.

Paper-Based Sorptive Phases Prepared by Dip Coating

Sampling can be the most demanding part of an analysis. Anybody in charge of sampling needs a good understanding of the composition of the material to be investigated, its heterogeneity (or homogeneity, in simple cases), and the chemical properties of the analytes. Sampling procedures must be described in detail. Detecting the bias of a sampling procedure can be difficult; this fact is trivial, but it must not be forgotten.

Sample Preparation | Topics