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Separation scientists may seek an optimum spot between chromatographic performance required to obtain sufficient results quality, and the time and resources needed to do so. This instalment of “GC Connections” examines the factors that control peak resolution - one of the main drivers of separation quality - and how chromatographers can use this information to find an optimum between time, cost, and performance.

This instalment describes several commonly used microextraction sample preparation techniques and their applications to forensic toxicology analysis. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME), microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS), and different types of liquid-based microextraction (LPME), including single‑drop microextraction (SDME), hollow-fibre supported LPME, three-phase LPME, and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME), are discussed. Examples of application of these techniques to determine illicit drugs and drugs of abuse from various biological specimens are provided as well.

The mobile-phase pH can be a powerful tool to control retention and selectivity, but it can also get you in trouble if it is not controlled properly.

Eurofins Scientific has announced the purchase of Exova’s environment testing business located in Eastern Canada in a deal estimated to be worth $13 million CAD.

Agilent Technologies has announced that Shane Snyder, Ph.D., has received an Agilent Thought Leader Award in recognition of his research in water analysis, and the exploration of new approaches to determine the quality and safety of drinking water.

AOAC International are now accepting nominations for the Harvey W. Wiley and the Fellow of AOAC International awards.

Selected highlights from The Columns 2016 archives.

Researchers investigating paper mill effluents and their impact on surface waters in Slovenia have identified endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and their mutagenic and genotoxic properties using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).

Do you produce data or information?

As I wrote the title of this LCGC Blog instalment, I could not help but wonder where the cliché “more than one way to skin a cat” came from. Turns out it is from Mark Twain in his 1889 work, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I have never read that book, but I certainly have heard this saying used more than once - even if it might offend some cat lovers. Of course, it means simply that there is more than one way to do something.

A preview of the 8th International Symposium on the Separation and Characterization of Natural and Synthetic Macromolecules (SCM-8).

A group of researchers from India have chemically characterized food waste using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and GC with flame ionization detection (GC–FID) and identified possible reuse and disposal techniques.

Click the title above to open The Column January 17, 2017 North American issue, Volume 13, Number 2, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column January 17, 2017 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 13, Number 1, in an interactive PDF format.

Many of our instrument techniques rely on a calibration in order to relate the detector response to the amount of analyte within our sample.

In order to contemplate and test your knowledge, Kevin A. Schug provides a sampling of some of his chromatography true–false questions from his senior-level Instrumental Analysis course.

Multidimensional liquid chromatography strategies are the most widely used method for increasing the number of spatially resolved components and reducing stress on mass spectrometric detection. However, the stress placed on a secondary dimension in a comprehensive on-line methodology is very high. An increasingly attractive approach is the coupling of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ion mobility spectrometry hyphenated to mass spectrometry (IMS-MS). Tim Causon and Stephan Hann of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria, spoke to The Column about their work evaluating this approach and exploring its possibilities for metabolomics.

Keith Bartle talks about his proudest scientific achievements.

Click the title above to open the LCGC Europe January 2017 regular issue, Vol 30, No 1, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the LCGC North America January 2017 regular issue, Vol 35 No 1, in an interactive PDF format.

Nominations for the 3rd Annual Excellence Award from the North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW) are now open.

Our technical support center deals with many issues regarding irreproducibility of retention and selectivity in reversed phase HPLC. Very often, the problem lies in poor equilibration of the HPLC column between injection, which in gradient HPLC can affect the separation selectivity as well as analyte retention.

Luis A. Colón and Purnendu (Sandy) Dasgupta have been honoured at the Eastern Analytical Symposium in Somerset, New Jersey, USA, for achievements in their respective fields.

Following their successful “Grass Roots” educational event held in the Lake District, The Chromatography Society (ChromSoc) has announced plans for further events in the same format for 2017.

Researchers from the Scientific Institute of Public Health, in Brussels, Belgium, have devised a simple dilute and shoot methodology for the identification and quantification of illegal insulin (1).

Peak Scientific has been awarded the “Best New Exporter to China Award” at the British Business Awards, held in Shanghai by the British Chamber of Commerce.

In recent years, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) methods have been increasingly adopted as a replacement for ligand‑binding assays to monitor the fate of drugs in vivo. Such bioanalysis of protein-based pharmaceuticals (biopharmaceuticals) is more challenging, however, than it is for small-molecule drugs. Rainer Bischoff of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands has been exploring approaches to overcome these challenges. He recently spoke to us about this work.

In 2011, when we first began field and laboratory studies to help assess the potential environmental impacts of unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG), there was very little literature on the subject. Further, the polarizing nature of the topic made it quite difficult to navigate the middle ground. While some voices contended that UOG was perfectly safe, others insisted that it should be banned in its entirety because it is destroying the environment. As with any topic that is both complex and elicits the attention of a large number of people (like our past election or politics, in general), my skepticism forces me to believe that the answer actually lies somewhere in the middle of extreme views.