Highlights from the HPLC 2015 Symposium
September 1st 2015The 42nd International Symposium of High Performance Liquid Phase Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC 2015), chaired by Gérard Hopfgartner was held 21–25 June in Geneva, Switzerland. This instalment covers some of the highlights observed at the symposium including stationary-phase developments, particle technology, and areas of growing application of HPLC. In addition, trends and perspectives on future developments in HPLC culled from the conference are presented.
Ion-Mobility Mass Spectrometry in Metabolomics and Lipidomics
August 31st 2015Ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) is an analytical technique that provides for the separation of ions in the gas phase. The separation, occuring on a timescale of milliseconds, is based on the differing mobility of ions according to their charge, shape, and size. These characteristics make IMS suitable for coupling with mass spectrometry (MS), to serve in current MS-based workflows for metabolomics and lipidomics. IMS–MS improves peak capacity and signal-to-noise ratios, and it provides more confidence during compound identification or confirmation than conventional analyses.
Slideshow: Seven Common Faux Pas in Modern HPLC
August 24th 2015Seven outdated traditional practices that should not be performed without considering alternative approaches that can improve results, provide lower operation costs, or give faster run times. Instead of working harder, analytical scientists should work smarter. Learn more by clicking through the slideshow.
GC–MS Analysis of Laser‑Degraded Blue Tattoo Ink
August 21st 2015Laser irradiation of blue tattoo ink can create toxic byproducts - including hydrogen cyanide (HCN) - according to new research published by scientists at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. Pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py–GC–MS) was performed on samples of copper phthalocyanine blue to predict the decomposition products resulting from irradiation, as part of a wider on-going project assessing the safety of tattoo inks.
New FDA Guidance on Analytical Methods Provides General Approach, but Few Details
August 18th 2015The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new guidance document, Analytical Procedures and Method Validation for Drugs and Biologics. The guidance is quite general in nature. Anyone hoping for specific recommendations on topics such as which methods to use will be disappointed. Industry experts say that i really isn’t feasible for the FDA to provide detailed recommendations about analytical methods for biopharmaceuticals, however.
How to Estimate Error in Calibrated Instrument Methods—And Why We Have Stopped Doing It!
August 18th 2015When was the last time you reported your results with an estimate of the error associated with the data? You don’t need to because your method is performing within the levels defined by various agencies and which were confirmed by your validation and your daily QC checks. The person for whom you are producing the data is aware of these tolerances and therefore inherently appreciates the associated precision of the data and can make judgements based on this. Not in the world I work in!
Metabolic Fingerprinting Using GC–MS
August 13th 2015In this new video from LCGC TV, Christian Wachsmuth from the University of Regensburg in Germany compares the performance of different ionization methods for GC–MS in metabolic fingerprinting. He also goes on to talk about how GC–MS could be applied in a clinical setting and what developments are needed for this to happen.