Ronald E. Majors

This month's installment of "Column Watch" is the conclusion of a two-part series in which Ron Majors examines the trends in column introductions at Pittcon 2005. Here, he discusses gas chromatography columns, sample preparation products, hardware, and accessories.

Pittcon 2005 - the 56th Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy - returned to the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, 27 February-4 March 2005. This year's event hosted more than 900 instrument manufacturers and 1aboratory suppliers in more than 2300 booths. In addition to attending the exposition, the conferees were able to listen to numerous oral presentations, view more than 900 posters, check out 38 seminar rooms, or attend one of 150 short courses.

This month's column reviews some key considerations in the manufacture and use of microplates with particular reference to the 96-well plate.

This column focuses on some of the latest developments in preparative-scale columns, bulk packing materials and column hardware designs. Silica, polymeric and other packings are discussed together with the newest monolithic columns.

Column Editor Ron Majors turns his attention to preparative chromatography. He focuses on the columns used in preparative chromatography, including how to select the appropriate mode, mobile-phase system and operating conditions.

In the final of this two-part series examining trends in column introductions at the recent Pittcon 2004, Ron Majors looks at gas chromatography columns, sample preparation products, hardware, accessories and kits for chromatography and sample preparation.

In the first of a two-part series, Ron Majors examines new column introductions at Pittcon with special attention to high performance liquid chromatography columns and packings for reversed-, normal- and bonded-phase; ion exchange; ion and size-exclusion chromatography. He also considers speciality HPLC columns.

Continued from last month, this month's column discusses specially designed columns for use in highly aqueous environments. Many of these columns also can be used as regular reversed-phase columns for a range of mobile phases.

The authors suggest ways to avoid phase collapse and regenerate collapsed phases.

Highly selective sorbents for solid-phase extraction (SPE) are desirable tools for the development of selective and sensitive methods for trace analysis. Molecular imprinting is an emerging technique that can yield analyte- or group-selective polymeric sorbents.

Ron Majors describes solid-phase extraction devices that provide new levels of convenience, improved performance.

A single-source reference for key chromatography terms.

Norberto Guzman and Ron Majors look at three areas in which progress has been made in improving concentration limits of detection for CE and CE microchip techniques: preconcentration methods, detector enhancements, and derivatization methods to improve separation selectivity and to enhance detection.

This month's column looks at methods for preparing calibration standards for VOC analysis.

This month's "Column Watch" describes moving bed chromatography and how the concept is realized in the form of simulated moving bed chromatography. Also included is an inside look at instrumentation, method development, and applications for industrial purifications.

This month's "Column Watch" examines developments in column packings. Ron Majors looks at the physical design of packing materials from a performance standpoint and discusses some new packing materials that have unique characteristics.

Concluding a two-part series, Ron Majors looks at the trends in the introduction of columns and column-related products at Pittcon 2000. In this second part, he describes gas chromatography and supercritical fluid chromatography columns, CE capillaries, thin-layer chromatography products, sample preparation products, and accessories for chromatography and sample preparation.

This month's column begins our annual roundup of new column technologies shown at the Pittsburgh Conference. In part I, we'll look at HPLC columns and packings for reversed-, normal-, and bonded-phase; ion-exchange; ion; size-exclusion; and large- and preparative-scale chromatography as well as specialty columns.

In this month's "Column Watch," Majors recounts some of the more interesting paper and poster presentations given at HPLC '99, held May 30–June 4, in Grenada, Spain.