Peaks of Interest

Ron Majors awarded gold medal

Ronald E. Majors, LCGC North America columnist and senior chemist for the Columns and Supplies Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware), has been awarded the 2007 Martin Gold Medal by the Chromatographic Society in the United Kingdom for outstanding contributions to the chromatography field. Majors is best known for his monthly "Column Watch" and "Sample Preparation Perspectives" columns for LCGC North America. These articles focus on chromatography, sample preparation, and surface chemistry, and can be found on LCGC's website (http://www.chromatographyonline.com).

The Chromatographic Society is an international organization devoted to the promotion and dissemination of knowledge of chromatography and related separation techniques.

The Martin Medal is the society's top award and bears the name of the Nobel Prize winner for chromatography, Archer Martin. It is awarded to individuals whose professional and scientific accomplishments have fostered progress in chromatography.

Airgas acquires Dantack

Airgas, Inc. (Randor, Pennsyvania) announced it has acquired the assets and operations of Dantack Corporation (Grand Prairie, Texas), a safety distributor with branches in Ohio and Virginia. The business generated more than $18 million in sales during 2006.

The operations will be managed by Airgas Southwest, one of the Airgas regional companies, as a stand-alone business. Later, operations in Ohio and Virginia will transition to other Airgas regional companies.

Molex acquires Polymicro

Molex Incorporated (Lisle, Illinois), a global electronic components company, announced that it has completed its acquisition of Polymicro Technologies, LLC (Pheonix, Arizona).

According to Gary Nelson, Polymicro's president and general manager, Polymicro also offers Molex penetration into the analytical, genomic, and biotechnology markets that use optical fiber, micro-components, optical fiber ferrules, capillary tubing, and assemblies.