50 Years Of Ion Chromatography: Advice for Aspiring Ion Chromatographers

What advice would you give to a young chromatographer considering specializing in ion chromatograpahy (IC), and how does the field stay vibrant and innovative moving forward?
Joachim Weiss: I would highly recommend specializing in IC to a young chromatographer because there are not that many experts left in this field of science today. The scientists in industry and academia who were driving the development of IC during the past decades are about to retire or have already done so. To avoid a knowledge drain, it is necessary to pass on the accumulated experience to the younger generation of chromatographers. For a young chromatographer considering a specialization in ion chromatography, it is important to develop a solid understanding not only of the fundamental separation and detection principles, but also of the latest advances in hardware and software. It is also crucial to gain practical experience to be able to understand the wide applicability of IC.

This year, we are celebrating the golden jubilee of ion chromatography, as this analytical method has matured over the past 50 years. Although “revolutionary” developments may not be occurring within the foreseeable future, the field will stay vibrant as stationary phase materials, detection methods, and automation techniques are continuously improved. Moreover, the demand for precise analyses in almost all IC application areas is steadily increasing. If a young chromatographer is willing to invest in self-education and is open to new technologies, this field can be further advanced and innovative solutions can be created.

Chris Pohl: My advice for a young chromatographer is to become familiar with the routine operation and troubleshooting of your instrument. If you can get things done and quickly work through problems when they occur in the laboratory, you will get the attention of your boss and the opportunity to work on challenging new applications and new instrumentation.

The one thing that IC needs to do to stay vibrant and innovative is to continue to push the envelope in terms of stationary phase chemistries and particle sizes. IC has stagnated for some years, using 4–5 µm particle sizes when LC is using much smaller particles. Part of the problem is connected to the pressure rating of polymeric components commonly used in IC. Exploring options that can circumvent these issues should be a high priority. Likewise, the development of smaller particles using polymeric stationary phases brings with it challenges associated with the pressure rating of polymeric materials. However, some polymeric particles are incredibly pressure resilient, so there are still opportunities to further reduce particle size without worrying about crushing the particles during the packing process.

Brett Paul: Innovation in IC is no different than innovation in other modes of LC. Innovation continues in stationary phase development, column formats, instrument capability, application to challenging sample types, etc etc. My advice is, if your research requires or involves ion analysis, then get well trained on IC, if it doesn’t…then do not.

Follow the LCGC Interview series this week to celebrate 50 years of ion chromatography with individual interviews with Joachim Weiss, Chris Pohl, and Brett Paul giving their views on the past present, and future of ion chromatography.

Biographies
Joachim Weiss graduated in chemistry in 1979 from the Technical University of Berlin (Germany). He worked in the field of liquid and gas chromatography at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute in Berlin and received his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry in 1982 from the Technical University of Berlin. In 2000, Guenther Bonn appointed him visiting professor at the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck (Austria). Weiss habilitated in analytical chemistry at the Leopold-Franzens University (Austria) in 2002. In 2011, 2014, and 2016, Jacek Namiesnik appointed him visiting professor at the Technical University of Gdansk (Poland).

In 1982, Weiss started his professional career as an applications chemist at Dionex Corporation in Germany. From 1996 to 1997, he worked in the field of scanning probe microscopy at TopoMetrix GmbH in Germany as a European distributors manager and rejoined Dionex Corporation (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific) in 1998. He is currently retired from the position of technical director for Dionex Products within the chromatography and mass spectrometry division (CMD) of Thermo Fisher Scientific in Germany.

Weiss is recognized as an international expert in analytical chemistry (especially in the field of liquid/ion chromatography). The 4^th edition of his Handbook of Ion Chromatography was published in 2016. In 2015, he was awarded the Maria Sklodowska Curie Medal of the Polish Chemical Society for his achievements in separation science.

Christopher Pohl is a chromatography consultant for CAP Chromatography Consulting and President of Cap Chromatography LLC. He retired from Thermo Fisher Scientific in August 2021 where he was Vice President, Chromatography Chemistry.Christopher joined Dionex, now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, in 1979 where the focus of his work was new stationary phase design.He is an author or co-author of 114 US patents, in a number of areas including separation methods and stationary phase design.He is the author or co-author of 14 book chapters and more than 157 papers.He received his BS in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Washington in 1973. He received the International Ion Chromatography Symposium Award in 1990, the Uwe Neue Award and the Eastern Analytical Symposium Separation Science Award in 2018, the 2020 Thermo Fisher Scientific - George N. Hatsopoulos Technical Innovation Award, the 2023 ACS Chromatography Award and the LCGC 2025 Lifetime Achievement in Chromatography Award.

Professor Brett Paull (BSc, PhD, DSc) took up his first lectureship at the University of Tasmania from 1995 to 1997, before moving to Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland (1998–2011). In 2011, Brett rejoined the University of Tasmania as a Professor of Analytical Chemistry. From 2014 to 2019 Brett was Director of the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), and from 2015-2020 the Director of the ARC Training Centre for Portable Analytical Separation technologies (ASTech). Brett is currently Director of the ARC Training Centre for Hyphenated Analytical Separation Technologies (HyTECH).