Market Profile: Laboratory Automation

Flash chromatography is a purification technique that is designed for rapid separation by using air pressure as opposed to slow and inefficient gravityfed chromatography. It differs from the conventional column technique by using slightly smaller silica gel particles and pressurized gas at 50–200 psi.

LIMS are software platforms that provide data management, and were introduced as a solution to sample tracking. However, LIMS quickly evolved into a tool that manages multiple facets of laboratory informatics.

Gas chromatography (GC) sampling of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is typically done by headspace, purge and trap, or thermal desorption instruments. Headspace sampling is the simplest of the techniques, where a vapor sample is taken from the space above the liquid sample in a GC vial.

For high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultrahigh-pressure LC (UHPLC), and LC–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) technologies, China has continued to provide solid growth opportunities, as a result of the country’s investments in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as agriculture and food testing.

Process chromatographs, in particular process gas chromatographs (GCs), is a well-established technique within the oil and gas, refining, and petrochemical industry.

Over the past 20 years, the use of LC– MS instruments has become increasingly important to many researchers. The performance of LC–MS instruments has continued to advance, reaching higher levels of sensitivity and increased resolution.