Hitting the Buffers at Pittcon 2010...

Article

The Column

ColumnThe Column-04-23-2010
Volume 6
Issue 7

As I travelled the miles of poster boards and sat through the various lectures, it became apparent that many of us still don?t know how to choose or optimize buffers for liquid phase separations.

I was lucky enough to visit Pittcon again this year, in sunny (but unseasonably cold) Orlando, Florida, USA. There were several highlights to the show this year, some of which included (in no particular order):

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A resurgence in alternative stationary phase support materials including porous graphitic carbon and diamond-based phases.
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A burgeoning number of applications showing the utility of superficially porous stationary phases.
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Continued focus on HILIC stationary phases for HPLC.
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Several new or improved instruments for UPLC.
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New applications for ionic liquid stationary phases for GC of polar compounds.

All of these new developments or twists on older technologies are encouraging and I can see utility for several of them in my own applications. I have posted a thread into the 'Off Topic' Forum of the LC•GC site The CHROMmunity with links and further information on my Pittcon highlights. I would encourage you to read if you didn't get to the show and post a reply if you did, to give our colleagues the benefit of your attendance and your opinion!

There was, however, a more disappointing aspect to the show that appeared especially in the poster sessions but also in some of the oral sessions. As I travelled the miles of poster boards and sat through the various lectures, it became apparent that many of us still don't know how to choose or optimize buffers for liquid phase separations.

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Toby Astill | Image Credit: © Thermo Fisher Scientific