The Column - April 2009 - (Page 13)

April 2009 www.thecolumn.eu.com The Column News News The Ice Men Cometh A stationary phase made from ice and water has been used by Yuiko Tasaki and Tetsuo Okada from the Department of Chemistry at the Tokyo Institute in the separation of oestrogen, amino acid derivatives and poly(oxyethylene) oligomers. This novel stationary phase could provide better separation selectivity for polar groups than silica gel, Okada told The Column. ‘Ice chromatography’ was restricted by large particle size, but a new method yields finer particles achieving a much larger theoretical plate number [(N) 1 500] than previous experiments [(N) 250] and allowing these appliciations.1 Higher durability would allow the use of an aqueous mobile phase and the team are currently working to create a more durable phase. “Even the ice stationary phases used at the moment are useful for routine separation and could replace preparative silica gel columns that are widely used in organic chemistry labs”, he says. “Also, if we add more functions to ice stationary phases, they can possibly be used in other areas of analytical chromatography. I do not want to suggest specific applications for ice chromatography at present but do believe that a number of applications will be exploited after further investigation.” This is a summary of a featured article available at Chromatography Online, visit http://chromatographyonline. findanalytichem.com/lcgc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=592286&sk=6cfbe8c1f56cda600ef4e03b12d70831 for the full article. 1. Y. Tasaki and T. Okada, Anal. Chem., 81, 890–897 (2009). Restoring the Everglades Scientists at Jupiter Environmental Laboratories in Florida will be using Applied Biosystems’ mass spectrometry equipment to support the environmental restoration of the once pristine waterways of the Florida Everglades. This is part of their support of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a government-sponsored effort to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of central and southern Florida. “The Everglades project exemplifies how environmental scientists are applying mass spectrometry to address a serious issue that requires powerful analytical scientific tools,” said Laura Lauman, president of the mass spectrometry systems division of Life Technologies. One of the key tasks of this project is to reclaim thousands of acres of citrus groves and sugar farms and restore the natural waterways of the Everglades. This will require the identification and elimination of a wide variety of pesticides and other contaminants. To address this challenge, the team is using the AB SCIEX QTRAP 5500 system, a next-generation mass spectrometer, to provide information that will enable environmental engineers to make more informed decisions regarding how to dismantle canals, transfer land and restore natural flood plains. The system features a combination of sensitivity, scanning speed and capacity that is reported to enable the analysis of more than 1000 chemicals in a single test, providing results in days rather than the weeks that other devices would need. This technology was developed by the joint-venture partnership of Applied Biosystems and MDS Analytical Technologies. For more information on this project visit www.jupiterlabs.com and for more about the system visit www.appliedbiosystems.com or www.invitrogen.com 13 Links: www. chromatographyonline.com www.appliedbiosystems.com www.jupiterlabs.com www.invitogen.com Robin Hill/Getty Images 13 http://www.thecolumn.eu.com http://chromatographyonline.findanalytichem.com/lcgc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=592286&sk=6cfbe8c1f56cda600ef4e03b12d70831 http://chromatographyonline.findanalytichem.com/lcgc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=592286&sk=6cfbe8c1f56cda600ef4e03b12d70831 http://www.jupiterlabs.com http://www.appliedbiosystems.com http://www.invitrogen.com http://www.jupiterlabs.com http://www.chromatographyonline.com http://www.appliedbiosystems.com http://www.invitogen.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - April 2009

The Column - April 2009
Contents
HPTLC Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Mussels After a Crude Oil Spill in Chile
News
Incognito - Pittcon Pioneers…
Market Trends & Analysis
Characterizing the Secreted Proteome of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis by LC–MS–MS
Tips and Tricks: GPC/SEC
Meeting Review - Pittcon 2009
Q&A

The Column - April 2009