Connecting with Chromatography at Pittcon 2012

Pittcon is returning to the sunny city of Orlando, the fourth largest airport destination the United States. Florida is rapidly becoming the "innovation hub of the Americas." The state's biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors continue to grow, making Florida the epicentre of some of the most exciting research, promising discoveries, and successful commercialization of final products in the world.

Pittcon 2012 will showcase the latest innovations in analytical science and chromatographic technology from nearly 900 leading companies from over 40 countries. Pittcon 2012 will be held from 11–15 March 2012 in Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando, Florida, USA.

Approximately 50% of exhibitors use Pittcon as the premier event to launch new products and 20% offer "on-site only" exclusive deals and discounts on equipment and services. Technology Park, which is located in the centre of the exhibition floor, will present a unique robotic display, exhibitor videos projected on large screen monitors and complimentary copies of leading industry publications.

This exciting exposition will be complemented by an all inclusive technical programme offering more than 2400 technical presentations, as well as affordable educational short courses and unique networking opportunities. The advance registration fee of $115 gives conferees unlimited week-long access to the entire technical programme and the exposition floor. The 2012 Technical Programme includes symposia, contributed oral sessions, awards, workshops, posters and Conferee Networking Sessions.

Chromatography Conference

At this year's Conference, world-renowned speakers will present symposia contributed and oral sessions, workshops, awards and posters covering diverse subject matter. Hundreds of technical sessions will focus on topics relevant to liquid and gas chromatography. Highlights include:

• The Role of Ionic Media in Influencing Electrostatic Interactions in Chromatographic Separations by Brian Bidlingmeyer from Agilent Technologies. This presentation starts by reviewing the ways in which control of peak retention is accomplished by using ion-pairing followed by an explanation of the mechanism for ion-pairing.

• Why Consider Ionic Liquids as Mobile Phase Modifiers for Liquid Chromatography? by Neil Danielson, Ling Zhou and Matthew Collins, University of Miami, will focus on the use of ionic media in separation science.

• Stable, Microfabricated Thin Layer Chromatography Plates Prepared on Infiltrated, Patterned Carbon Nanotube Forests by Matthew Linford, David Jansen, Supriya Kanyal, Cody Cushman, Laurel Peacock, Michael Vail, Andrew Dadson, Richard Vanfleet and Robert Davis will cover lab-on-a-chip/microfluidics, liquid chromatography, nanotechnology and thin layer chromatography.

• The Role of Temperature in HPLC Efficiency and Speed by Pat Sandra from the Research Institute for Chromatography, Belgium, will present recent research on optimizing speed and efficiency by using temperature optimization in RP–LC, HILIC and enhanced fluidity LC (EFLC).

• The Judicious Use of pH Gradients Can Double or Triple the Peak Capacity and Resolving Power of High- or Ultra-Pressure Liquid Chromatography by Joe Foley and Adam Socia from Drexel University. Discussion will include the benefits of SE–LC with sequential elution modes, theory summarization and applications with an emphasis on an approach using two pH gradients prior to a solvent gradient that can be used to separate weak acids, weak bases and neutral compounds from each other.

• MEMS and Nanotechnology: Taking [micro]GC Beyond Miniaturizing Gas Chromatography by Masoud Agah from Virginia Tech, will include discussions on the invention of new µGC columns, semi-packed and multicapillary and demonstrations on the marriage of MEMS and nanotechnology to improve both stationary phase coating for µGCs and develop new architectures for high-speed, high-performance gas chromatography.

• Micro-Fabricated Planar GC×GC–PID Using a Glass Substrate by Alastair Lewis, Jacqueline Hamilton, Jaydene Halliday, Richard Lidster and Sam Edwards from the University of York, will present a selection of results from the GC×GC–PID, including assessment of the performance of planar glass columns compared to fused silica, the capabilities of the built-in fluidic modulator and the utility and applicability of a compact photoionisation detector as a means of detection in GC×GC.

• GC-on-a-Chip: Fundamental Considerations of Microcolumn Separation by Joshua Whiting, Joseph Simonson and Pete Stevens. This session will focus on several aspects of the theory and modeling of microcolumns for the separation of vapour mixtures, with comparisons to experimental results. Two different applications will be presented: a vacuum outlet system with atmospheric pressure air as a carrier gas using a low aspect ratio column (120×250 µm); and a comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography (GC×GC) system with high-pressure hydrogen as the carrier gas using a high aspect ratio column (30×685 µm).

New for 2012 is the Capstone Lecture, Redesigning DNA: Fixing God's Mistakes, which will be presented by Steven A. Benner, Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution. Pittcon is also pleased to present R. Graham Cooks, Henry B. Hass Distinguished Professor–Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, who will deliver the Plenary Lecture Ambient Ionization and Mini Mass Spectrometers: In situ MS for Everyone. Mixers following each of the lectures will provide an informal networking venue allowing conferees to continue the discussion.

Pittcon Honours Scientific Achievements

Every year Pittcon recognizes and honours scientists who have made outstanding contributions to analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy. This year Purnendu K. (Sandy) Dasgupta, University of Texas at Arlington, will receive the prestigious Dal Nogare Award presented by The Chromatography Forum of Delaware Valley for his contributions to separation sciences which have been both esoteric and practical. He is credited with the development of electrodialytic suppressors, eluent generators and post column reagent introduction devices. His contributions to the use of ion chromatography in environmental analysis have been particularly important, from the discovery of the ubiquitous presence of perchlorate in mother's milk to near real-time gas/aerosol composition analyzers.

Sessions associated with this award presentation include The Evolution of Electrodialytic Devices in Ion Chromatography; Recent Progress in the Synthesis of Anion Exchange Condensation Polymers; Thin Film SPME; Development of Ionic Liquids for Chemical and Biochemical Analysis; and Recent Advances in the Charge Detector Concept for Ion Chromatography. The Dal Nogare Award session will be webcast and available for post-event online viewing.

Jared L. Anderson, professor of analytical chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Toledo, will receive the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science. His research interests include the synthesis of new classes of ionic liquids and materials derived from polymeric ionic liquids, the use of ionic liquids as catalytic solvents and the use of ionic liquids in all aspects of separation science including analytical extractions, purification and chromatography. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of separation science by a young chemist within 10 years of their highest degree. Sessions included in this award presentation include Exploiting the Versatility of Ionic Liquids and Polymeric Ionic Liquids in Separation Science; Separations as Intermolecular Interaction Amplifiers; SPME: Quo Vadis; Cyclofructans: The Newest Chiral Macrocycle; and Combining Sensors with Separations for Enhanced Selectivity.

Professional Development

For those who are new to the field of chromatography or for veterans looking to enhance professional development, Pittcon provides an affordable Short Course Programme covering more than 60 topics which range from beginner to advanced levels, in half-, one- or two-day courses. There are approximately 55 courses offered in various topics of chromatography. Some of the new courses for this year include Advances in Countercurrent Chromatography and Related Techniques; Fundamentals and Practical Application of Size-exclusion Chromatography; How To Launch 100% of Liquid Samples Into ESI Mass Spectrometers and More About the Nanoliter Regime; Impurities in Pharmaceuticals - A Survey Course; and Physical Chemistry of Macromolecules, Part I - Basic Principles.

Get Connected

The new Pittcon 2012 Mobile App will help iOS and Android device users to organize agendas, get information about technical sessions and short courses, search exhibitor listings and find local restaurants and entertainment. On March 11–15 2012, more than 18,000 attendees in industry, academia and government from over 90 countries will converge at Pittcon 2012 making it the perfect event to get connected to science, discovery and colleagues — while enjoying the sights and sounds of the great city of Orlando. For complete up-to-date event details visit www.pittcon.org.

Contact: Marian Nardozzi

Email: publicity@pittcon.org

Location: Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando, Florida, USA

Tel: +1 412.825.3220 x 203

Fax: +1 412.825.3224

Registration: www.pittcon.org/website/register.php

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