Best of the Week: Fluropolymer Degradation, HILIC, PFAS, AI, & More
Key Takeaways
- Pyrolysis GC×GC provides higher peak capacity and compositional resolution to map fluoropolymer breakdown products relevant to thermal recycling and degradation mechanism elucidation.
- Transitioning to HILIC can separate excipient-related artifacts from true leachables, improving specificity in investigations of suspect extractables/leachables signals.
This week, Chromatography Online featured pieces on fluoropolymer degradation, HILIC's role in spotting false leachables, PFAS method harmonization debates, fast PFAS detection, and AI-driven retention time prediction.
This week, Chromatography Online covered a range of topics in chromatography and analytical chemistry. This week’s highlights open with an interview from HTC-19 in Leuven, Belgium, where Dow Benelux's Melissa Dunkle discusses her research using pyrolysis GC×GC to study how fluoropolymers break down, with implications for plastic chemical recycling. Next, Cardinal Health's Jie Du explained how switching from reversed-phase to HILIC chromatography helped identify a misleading excipient artifact that had been mistaken for a genuine leachable compound. We also featured the latest installments of an ongoing expert panel debate on how to standardize PFAS testing methods amid a rapidly growing and inconsistently regulated set of compounds, alongside a piece on a fast GC-MS/MS method capable of detecting 37 volatile PFAS in food packaging in just eight minutes. Finally, Amgen Research Copenhagen's Daniel Vik discussed the use of machine learning to predict chromatographic retention times for small molecules, exploring its role in accelerating drug discovery and the broader potential of AI to make analytical chemistry faster and more scalable.
This is the Best of the Week.
HTC-19 2026: A Discussion with Dow Benelux BV’s Melissa N. Dunkle
At HTC-19 in Leuven, Belgium, LCGC International spoke to Melissa Dunkle on her presentation “Evaluation of the Degradation of Fluoropolymers Using Pyr-GC×GC,” which investigated the transformation of fluoropolymers during pyrolysis and its relevance to plastic chemical recycling.1-3
Jie Du of Cardinal Health discusses with LCGC International how switching from reversed-phase to hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) can unmask a hidden excipient artifact mistaken for a true leachable.4
Experts Debate Harmonizing PFAS Methods
Our panel of experts continue their debate as to how to harmonize PFAS methods across a rapidly expanding, poorly standardized universe of compounds.5-8
Low-pressure gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) quantifies 37 volatile PFAS in food packaging in 8 minutes.9
Daniel Vik from Amgen Research Copenhagen discusses the motivation behind applying machine learning to chromatographic retention time prediction and its growing importance in modern pharmaceutical research. He shares insights into the challenges of developing robust predictive models, their role in supporting high-throughput drug discovery workflows, and the potential of artificial intelligence to make analytical chemistry more efficient and scalable.10
References
1. Dunkle, M.; Matheson, A. HTC-19 Insights: Practical Considerations for Using Pyr-GC×GC to Study Fluoropolymer Degradation. Chromatography Online website.
2. Dunkle, M.; Matheson, A. HTC-19 Insights: The Benefits of Multidimensional Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography To Investigate Fluoropolymer Degradation. Chromatography Online website.
3. Dunkle, M.; Matheson, A. HTC-19 Insights: Practical Considerations for Using Pyr-GC×GC to Study Fluoropolymer Degradation.Chromatography Online website.
4. Du, J.; Chasse, J. Chromatography's Role in Spotting False Leachables. Chromatography Online website.
5. Vining, B.; Megson, D.; Avino, P. Emerging Contaminants and the Shifting PFAS Landscape. Chromatography Online website.
6. Vining, B.; Megson, D.; Avino, P. Background Contamination and the Limits of PFAS Detection. Chromatography Online website.
7. Vining, B.; Megson, D.; Avino, P. Sample Preparation Strategies for PFAS Analysis. Chromatography Online website.
8. Vining, B.; Megson, D.; Avino, P. The PFAS Analyst’s Wish List. Chromatography Online website.
9. Chasse, J. Fast GC-MS/MS Detects PFAS in Food Packaging. Chromatography Online website.
10. Vik, D.; Matheson, A. AI/ML in Practice: Machine-learning Prediction of Chromatographic Retention Times for Small Molecules in Pharmaceutical Applications. Chromatography Online website.