Peaks of Interest- MIT Develops Tiny Gas Sensor
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, are designing a tiny sensor that can detect minute quantities of hazardous gases more efficiently and quickly than current devices on the market.
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, are designing a tiny sensor that can detect minute quantities of hazardous gases more efficiently and quickly than current devices on the market. The researchers, led by MIT professor Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, are utilizing the common technique of GC–MS and shrinking them to fit into a device the size of a computer mouse. Their detector, which researchers plan to have completed within two years, uses GC–MS to identify gas molecules by their telltale electronic signatures.
According to Akinwande, scaling down gas detectors makes them much easier to use in a real-world environment, where they could be dispersed in a building or outdoor area.
Current versions of portable GC–MS machines take about 15 min to produce results, use 10,000 joules of energy, and are about the size of a full paper grocery bag. This new smaller version consumes about 4 joules of energy and produces results in about 4 s.
RAFA 2024 Highlights: Contemporary Food Contamination Analysis Using Chromatography
November 18th 2024A series of lectures focusing on emerging analytical techniques used to analyse food contamination took place on Wednesday 6 November 2024 at RAFA 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic. The session included new approaches for analysing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated alkanes (PCAS), Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons (MOH), and short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs).
Pharmaceutical excipients, such as polyethylene glycol-based polymers, must be tested for the presence of ethylene oxide (EtO) and 1,4-dioxane as part of a safety assessment, according to USP Chapter <228>.
Profiling Volatile Organic Compounds in Whisky with GC×GC–MS
November 1st 2024Researchers from Austria, Greece, and Italy conducted a study to analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in Irish and Scotch whiskys using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) Arrow with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC×GC–MS) to examine the organoleptic characteristics that influence the taste of spirits.
