Best of the Week: Food Safety, Biopharma, and Beyond

This week's Chromatography Online website offered articles spanning the full range of separation science, from food safety to biopharmaceuticals to the people behind the work. On the food front, Malte Hübschen described an automated gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) workflow that makes phthalate testing in difficult oils faster and more reliable, and Ana Rodríguez-Bernaldo de Quirós showed how non-targeted GC–MS is turning up unexpected chemicals in bioplastic food packaging. For biopharmaceutical analysts, Dwight Stoll and Martin Gilar continued their “LC Troubleshooting” series with a look at why phosphorothioate oligonucleotides are so hard to separate, experts weighed in on resolving closely eluting and isobaric impurities in GLP-1 peptides, and a trastuzumab case study showed how automation improves reproducibility in glycan profiling. Walter B. Wilson explained how NIST reference materials are certified and why they matter for trustworthy results. Our “Women in Chromatography” series heard from Kinjal Bhatt and Ina Varfaj on what it's like to be the only woman in the room, and our lastest “Analytically Speaking” podcast went live.

This is the Best of the Week.

Automated GC-MS/MS Method Tackles Oil Phthalates

Malte Hübschen of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) discusses an automated gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) workflow that improves phthalate detection in tricky oils with LCGC International.¹

Challenges and Solutions in Oligonucleotide Analysis, Part V: Troubles with Phosphorothioate Oligonucleotides

This "LC Troubleshooting" series by Dwight Stoll and Martin Gilar continues with an exploration of why phosphorothioate oligonucleotides (ONs) diastereomers challenge liquid chromatography.²

The LCGC Blog: NIST Reference Materials

In this “LCGC Blog” installment, Walter B. Wilson explains how NIST categorizes and certifies reference materials, and why they underpin reliable results in science and medicine. ³

Automated Workflow Paves Way for High-Throughput Reproducible Operations—Trastuzumab Glycosylation Profiling as a Case Study

Comparing manual and automated N-glycan profiling of a trastuzumab biosimilar, researchers found that both workflows detected the same glycan types, but automation gave more reproducible results (mean CV of about 5.7% vs. 7.95%), making it better suited to high-throughput analysis in biopharmaceutical development.⁴

Untangling Closely Eluting and Isobaric Impurities in GLP-1 Peptides

How can analysts resolve impurities that differ by a single mass unit? Experts discuss deamidation, racemization, HRMS, and 2D-LC for GLP-1 peptides.⁵

GC–MS Reveals Hidden Chemicals in Bioplastic Food Packaging

Ana Rodríguez-Bernaldo de Quirós explains how non-targeted GC–MS reveals complex chemical mixtures in bioplastic food packaging, raising safety questions.⁶

Women in Chromatography: Being the Only Woman in the Room

Kinjal Bhatt says belonging comes from team culture, not headcount, while Ina Varfaj's goal as her laboratory's only woman is making sure she isn't the last.⁷

Analytically Speaking: From Fortran to Field Flow Fractionation

In the latest episode of the “Analytically Speaking” podcast, Dwight Stoll and James Grinias talk with separation science veteran Mark Schure about his unusual path into the field, his pioneering modeling work in field flow fractionation and 2D chromatography, his collaborations with Peter Carr and Ilja Siepmann, and his views on the future of analytical chemistry, including the role of AI.⁸

References

1. Hübschen, M.; Chasse, J. Automated GC-MS/MS Method Tackles Oil Phthalates.Chromatography Online website. https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/automated-gc-ms-ms-method-tackles-oil-phthalates (accessed 2026-10-08)
2. Stoll, D.; Gilar, M. Challenges and Solutions in Oligonucleotide Analysis, Part V: Troubles with Phosphorothioate Oligonucleotides. Chromatography Online website. https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/challenges-and-solutions-in-oligonucleotide-analysis-part-v-troubles-with-phosphorothioate-oligonucleotides (accessed 2026-10-08)
3. Wilson, W. B. The LCGC Blog: NIST Reference Materials. Chromatography Online website. https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/the-lcgc-blog-nist-reference-materials (accessed 2026-10-08)
4. Rathore, A. S.; Sriwastaw, S.; Shivach, T. et al. Automated Workflow Paves Way for High-Throughput Reproducible Operations—Trastuzumab Glycosylation Profiling as a Case Study. Chromatography Online website. https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/automated-workflow-paves-way-for-high-throughput-reproducible-operations---trastuzumab-glycosylation-profiling-as-a-case-study (accessed 2026-10-08)
5. Whitmarsh, S.; Sharma, N.; Alvarez, P.Untangling Closely Eluting and Isobaric Impurities in GLP-1 Peptides. Chromatography Online website.https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/untangling-closely-eluting-and-isobaric-impurities-in-glp-1-peptides (accessed 2026-10-08)
6. Rodríguez-Bernaldo de Quirós, A.; Johnes, K. GC–MS Reveals Hidden Chemicals in Bioplastic Food Packaging. Chromatography Online website.https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/gc-ms-reveals-hidden-chemicals-in-bioplastic-food-packaging (accessed 2026-10-08)
7. Bhatt, K.; Varfaj, I.; Jones, K. Women in Chromatography: Being the Only Woman in the Room. Chromatography Online website.https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/women-in-chromatography-being-the-only-woman-in-the-room (accessed 2026-10-08)
8. Analytically SpeakingEp. 48: From Fortran to Field Flow Fractionation. Chromatography Online website.https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/women-in-chromatography-being-the-only-woman-in-the-room (accessed 2026-10-08)