Alcohol determination
A rapid method has been developed for detecting ethyl carbamate (EC) in alcohol.
A rapid method has been developed for detecting ethyl carbamate (EC) in alcohol.1 EC is present in a range of alcohols and is potentially carcinogenic to humans.
The team extracted EC using liquid-liquid extraction technique. They then silylated with bis-(trimethylsilyl)trifuoroacetamide and finally analysed the sample by GC–MS. Isopropyl carbamate was used as the internal standard for quantitative analysis of the sample. The optimum extraction conditions of pH = 9 and ethyl acetate as the solvent were used. A derivatization reaction temperature of 80 ºC and a duration of 30 min was also employed.
The study was carried out on 35 kinds of alcoholic samples and it was concluded that the technique was a fast, reliable and low-cost method for the determination of EC in alcohol.
1. Y. Hu et al., Journal of Separation Science, doi:10.1002/ jssc.201100526 (2012).
This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.
Removing Double-Stranded RNA Impurities Using Chromatography
April 8th 2025Researchers from Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore recently published a review article exploring how chromatography can be used to remove double-stranded RNA impurities during mRNA therapeutics production.
The Effect of Time and Tide On PFAS Concentrations in Estuaries
April 8th 2025Oliver Jones and Navneet Singh from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia discuss a recent study they conducted to investigate the relationship between tidal cycles and PFAS concentrations in estuarine systems, and offer practical advice on the sample preparation and LC–MS/MS techniques they used to achieve the best results.
