In Memoriam-Clarence S. "Bucky" Wentzel
After a brief illness, noted chromatographer Clarence S. "Bucky" Wentzel passed away Friday, February 20, 2009, at the age of 66.
After a brief illness, noted chromatographer Clarence S. “Bucky” Wentzel passed away Friday, February 20, 2009, at the age of 66.
For over 35 years, Clarence made numerous contributions to the advancement and development of GC instrumentation for the petroleum and petrochemical markets. Following a tour of duty in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Army, where he was highly decorated, earning two purple hearts, he began his career at the Cities Service Company (now known as CITGO) where he was principally involved in the analysis of hydrocarbon mixtures. He also worked at the Englehard Corporation and quickly rose to the level of Hydrocarbon Laboratory Manager responsible for the evaluation and investigation of petroleum catalysts.
In 1982 he co-founded Arnel, Inc. (recently acquired by PerkinElmer) to provide customized chromatography analyzers. As President, Clarence pioneered many innovative refinery and natural gas analyzer offerings. He was an active member of several ASTM committees and the author of numerous papers and presentations on method development for analytical instrumentation.
He is survived by Joan, his wife of 45 years, and two sons.
Reversed-Phases for LC Deliberately Doped with Positive Charge: Tips and Tricks for Effective Use
May 13th 2025In this month's edition of LC Troubleshooting, Dwight Stoll and his fellow researchers discuss both the benefits (improved peak shape/loading) and challenges (excessive interaction) associated with charge-doped reversed-phase (RP) columns for both analytical and preparative separations.
Investigating 3D-Printable Stationary Phases in Liquid Chromatography
May 7th 20253D printing technology has potential in chromatography, but a major challenge is developing materials with both high porosity and robust mechanical properties. Recently, scientists compared the separation performances of eight different 3D printable stationary phases.
Detecting Hyper-Fast Chromatographic Peaks Using Ion Mobility Spectrometry
May 6th 2025Ion mobility spectrometers can detect trace compounds quickly, though they can face various issues with detecting certain peaks. University of Hannover scientists created a new system for resolving hyper-fast gas chromatography (GC) peaks.
Altering Capillary Gas Chromatography Systems Using Silicon Pneumatic Microvalves
May 5th 2025Many multi-column gas chromatography systems use two-position multi-port switching valves, which can suffer from delays in valve switching. Shimadzu researchers aimed to create a new sampling and switching module for these systems.
Characterizing Polyamides Using Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography
May 5th 2025Polyamides can be difficult to characterize, despite their use in various aspects of everyday life. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam researchers hoped to address this using a reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC)-based approach.
