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Miniaturization has been one of the biggest trends in recent years. This article discusses the evolution and current applications of lab?on-a-chip technology in chromatography and explores the possibility of a new market for microfluidics in separation science.

Dr Vera Thoss from Bangor University (Bangor, Wales) spoke to Bethany Degg of The Column about her work investigating the chemistry of plants and the value of flash chromatography in this area of research.

Selected highlights of new products launched at Pittcon 2015.

Incognito offers his views on Pittcon 2015. What were your experiences like and did you have any arguments?

Since the founding of LCGC in 1983, we have made it our mission to serve the separation science community by publishing articles with a practical focus on improving chromatographic methods. Over the years, those articles have included many seminal works from leading analytical scientists who have made groundbreaking advances that have benefitted the entire community. This year, we are once again pleased to honour an outstanding chromatographer: Caroline West, the winner of the 2015 Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award. This year, we had the additional opportunity to honour West at Pittcon 2015 in an oral symposium as part of the Pittcon technical programme.

Click the title above to open The Column April 24, 2015 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 11, Number 7, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column April 24, 2015 North American issue, Volume 11, Number 7, in an interactive PDF format.

A method was developed for the quantitation of benzodiazephines in biological samples using an Agilent 6430 Triple Quadrupole LC/MS system. The method displays excellent accuracy and precision using a weighted-quadratic calibration model.

Validation studies showed that the LC/MS/MS method provides reliable results for the analysis of benzodiazephines and the z-drugs zolpidem, zopiclone and zaleplon that meet acceptable criteria set for this application.

A variety of aqueous (water-soluble) cellulose derivatives were characterized using the OMNISEC triple detection GPC/SEC system which revealed subtle, yet distinct differences between them. The differences described in this application note could be used in the pharmaceutical industry to correlate their molecular properties with performance.

What if we could make the troubleshooting poster on the laboratory wall come to life? What if we could build an engine which figured out the most likely causes of groups of symptoms and offer these up as a prioritised list for folks to work through and give them supporting information on each problem, why it occurred, how to fix it and, crucially, how to avoid it happening next time?

Scientists from SGC Environmental Services in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, have demonstrated the development and validation of a method for the analysis of five persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from 50 ?L dried blood spots. The work was presented as a poster at Dioxin 2014, held in Madrid, Spain, from 31 August to 5 September.

Scientists at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, USA, have discovered that olfactory cues can indicate pregnancy and foetal sex in the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta). Using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS), the team found that lemurs carrying male offspring exhibited a different volatile chemical profile to those carrying a female.

Cedrol, a sequisterpene alcohol found in the essential oil of connifers, could be a potent chemical cue for pregnant mosquitoes seeking the ideal location to lay their eggs. The compound was identified in a study looking at how mosquitoes find the ideal water body to lay their eggs. According to the study published in the Malaria Journal, cedrol could be used in the development of “attract and kill” traps targeting pregnant mosquitoes and reducing the spread of malaria.

This instalment of Tips & Tricks discusses the different approaches for determining the refractive index increment (dn/dc).

Click the title above to open The Column April 10, 2015 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 11, Number 6, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column April 10, 2015 North American issue, Volume 11, Number 6, in an interactive PDF format.

CLEAR is an endeavor to create a consortium of experts interested in building and propagating activities related to the assessment of the potential impact of industrial activities on the environment, as well as the creation of new solutions to mitigate problems associated with these activities.

Gérard Hopfgartner on Advances in Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry