The Chromatography Forum of Delaware Valley 2023 Annual Symposium Addresses Environmental and Industrial Analysis

The long-awaited return of an in-person Chromatography Forum of the Delaware Valley (CFDV) Annual Symposium is here! Join the event tomorrow April 20, 2023, for a great day of chromatography and networking. This event will take place at the Brandywine Plaza Hotel in Claymont, Delaware. You can register for this one-day in-person symposium here: https://www.cfdv.org/symposiums/CFDV+Annual+Symposium+2023

This year’s theme is “Saving the World with Chromatography.” Over the course of the day, there will be two oral sessions, one in the morning from 9:15 to 11:00 am, and one in the afternoon from 1:00 to 2:45 pm. The morning session is titled, “Environmental & Industrial Analysis,” and will be chaired by Mary Ellen McNally of FMC Corporation.

Green planet. Generative AI digital illustration. | Image Credit: © EZPS -stock.adobe.com

Diana Aga of the University of Buffalo will kick off the morning session with a talk titled, “Forever Chemicals: A Never-ending Analytical Challenge.” Her presentation will highlight examples of the challenges involved in the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), such as matrix effects, ionization efficiencies, extraction, separation, quantification, and unknown identification in complex environmental matrices. She will also discuss potential solutions.

Next, Xiaoyan Wang of FMC Corporation will continue the conversation with a talk titled, “Structure Elucidation of Agrochemical Process Impurities by Preparative HPLC Isolation followed by GC–MS and NMR Analyses.” Wang will discuss the analysis of three new impurities formed during the phosgene chlorination step in the synthesis of an agrochemical compound. I this work, liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) was used to acquire the accurate masses of the new impurities to propose possible chemical formulas and structures The subsequent structure elucidation strategy, using preparative HPLC isolation and proper solvent removal followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses, successfully revealed the definitive structures of the three small, volatile, and non-ionizable impurities.

The morning session will conclude with a talk from Thivanka Ariyarathna of Rowan University. Ariyarathna’s talk is titled, “Chromatography Applications: Case Studies in Environmental Science.” She will discuss examples of chromatographic analysis of both natural and synthetic substances found in the environment. She will also highlight the use of chromatography techniques to fingerprint polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in lake sediments and to evaluate distribution and degradation of munitions in different ecosystems.

All three talks are designed to reinforce the theme of this year’s annual symposium. For more information about the CFDV and its events, please click here: https://www.cfdv.org/