December 6th 2024
The Chromatographic Society (ChromSoc) has announced the winners of the Martin Medal and the Silver Jubilee Medal for 2025. Professor Bogusław Buszewski of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, has been awarded the prestigious Martin Medal, and the 2025 Silver Jubilee Medal has been awarded to Elia Psillakis of the Technical University of Crete in Greece.
Let’s Do It Right the First Time: The Importance of Solvent Safety Considerations
October 1st 2015If sample preparation is the most time and labor intense step in the analytical process, and uses the largest amounts of solvents, it stands to reason that sample preparation may present the most significant safety risks in the analytical lab. While most laboratory workers receive significant safety training, we may become numb to the prospect of accidents or get into the mindset that accidents only happen to other people. Given some recent, significant safety incidents, this month we step back and take a quick refresher on safety concerns appropriate during our sample preparation activities.
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.
Aiding the Development of Extraction Procedures with Response Surface Methodology
July 1st 2015When developing analytical methods, several parameters are often considered, things like solvent type and amount, sample size, pH, sorptive phases, temperature, time, and more. While some of these considerations can be considered unimportant in a given situation and experience and chemical knowledge can guide us to appropriate starting points, extraction method development is often a one-parameter-at-a-time proposition. A family of statistical approaches, which fall under the category of response surface methodology, are available to screen and optimize several parameters simultaneously.
Understanding and Improving Solid-Phase Extraction
December 1st 2014In this installment of "Sample Prep Perspectives," we cover some of the basic scientific principles behind solid-phase extraction (SPE) to allow the correct mode of extraction to be selected through an understanding of how analytes interact with and are separated by the sorbent.
Superheated Water as an Extraction Solvent in Sample Preparation
November 1st 2013Pressurized high temperature or superheated water is a green extraction solvent used in food, environmental, and traditional medicine studies for the extraction of non-polar and polar analytes including essential oils and spices, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and petrochemicals.
Microwave Accelerated Extraction — SW-846 Method 3546 and Beyond
November 1st 2013Microwave accelerated extraction (MAE) was evaluated by the authors of this review in 1999 (1). Since this time, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has promoted the use of SW-846 Method 3546 using MAE for the extraction of organic compounds from solid matrices.
Green Chemistry Perspectives on Analytical Extractions
November 1st 2013The growing interest in green chemistry requires fresh perspectives on analytical extractions. Reduced solvent consumption, alternative safer solvents, and reasonable energy demands must be balanced with traditional analytical considerations such as extraction yield and selectively.