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David Eikens FAST GC and GC METHOD TRANSLATION Do you want to leave work early? Or run more samples in a day? Well, OK, maybe you won’t be able to leave early, but fast capillary gas chromatography may help you analyze more samples. Dr. Blumberg has been active in the areas of method translation and fast capillary GC while working for Hewlett-Packard. He will provide tips on how to increase the speed of GC analysis and discuss how to apply Method Translation to convert current methods to faster methods. The idea of Method Translation is porting GC methods from one analytical environment to another without changing the peak elution pattern in the resulting chromatograms. The two environments can differ in the column dimension, carrier gas type, outlet pressure (like ambient for FID or vacuum for MS) and in the way the columns are optimized. The translation allows reduction of the analysis time by an order of magnitude or more without the need to develop a new method. His presentation will include a discussion of theoretical aspects such as the dependence of the plate height on the average velocity and how this differs from the van Deemter equation, and the need for high pressure in order to maintain efficiency. For additional information look at the calendar on the MCF website (www.minnchrom.org). The web site includes a map giving directions to the Hewlett-Packard offices. Alternatively you can contact David Eikens at (651) 733-5982 for additional information. Date: Location: See http://www.minnchrom.org/winter_meeting_info.htm for directions to HP. What is Fast Capillary GC? Jim Broge-Guest Columnist Fast GC should appeal to all MCF members… What analyst would not want to use a method that yields results in less than five minutes, has peak widths on the order of seconds or less, has detection sensitivity capabilities in the part per billion range, has multiple detector selectivity, including mass spec and infrared? What lab manager would not want analysts using the methods described above while adding instrument capacity by 10 to 100 fold with minimal capital investment? The requirements for fast GC appear fairly straight forward: narrow bore columns (.1mm) of relatively short length (10 m) with thin stationary phases (0.4 µm ) inserted into GCs with temperature ramp capabilities approaching one hundred degrees per minute, detectors sensitive to low volume, injectors with split ratios approaching 1000:1 or cryofocusing, and data systems capable of sampling frequencies over 100 Hz. A quick survey of internet web sites shows Hewlett Packard and Thermedics Detection active in the fast GC market. Thermedics Detection (www.thermedics.com) markets the EZ Flash system, which is an upgrade kit designed to improve the speed of a conventional GC. EZ Flash is referred to as a "third derivative" technology. The first two "derivatives " were the EGIS explosives analyzer and the Flash-GC. According to the Thermedics web site, EZ Flash allows the user to increase sample throughput from 5 to 30 times with reliable performance on any GC including any injector/detector/software combination, thereby reducing operating costs. They list dozens of "proven" applications. Hewlett Packard (HYPERLINK http://chem.external.hp.com/cag/main.html http://chem.external.hp.com/cag/main.html) touts the HP 6890 GC as an instrument for both conventional GC and fast GC "without special modifications or expensive accessories." Like their competition, the HP instrument provides improved capacity and reduced operating expenses. However, the HP instrument also claims to allow the user to decide the speed of the analysis, so that elution orders remain unchanged, resolution remains acceptable, and analyst retraining is kept to a minimum. HP offers free software to aid in the method transition.
MINUTES OF THE 17 NOVEMBER 1998 MCF BOARD MEETING Pat Sackett Present: Luke Charpentier, Andrew Dallas, David Eikens, Janice Jopke, Pat Sackett, David Whitman Treasurer’s Report: Terry provided the quarterly report. We are about $10k behind last year at this time. We took quite a hit on the Symposium last year, and our foray into lower taxes cost us around $1k. Web page setup was almost $3k. We’ll need to watch our pennies once more, suggestions include; canceling the Symposium’s final mixer(due to low attendance), and perhaps sponsored coffee breaks during the Symposium, also we could charge a premium for booth space in the front lobby . Minutes: No objections, minutes accepted as offered. Symposium Committee Report: We have a chair! Jianwei Li will chair the crew of five. Ward Swanson agreed to chair the committee in 1999/2000. Usha Bhatia will be in charge of booths. Jan volunteered to work on communications. Education Committee Report: The GC course netted $5900, advanced GC is scheduled for 2-3 February with Phil Stremple and Darren Decker. We had 15 registrants for Part I of the DOE course and 10 are signed up for Part II. Robin Pachuta and Phil Lyon suggested giving the mass spec interpretation course a rest for a year. so we’re back to the drawing board on which courses to hold. Topics suggested for future courses include; Detectors, and QC . Kim wondered if we should expand the list of authorized individuals to charge copying at Kinko’s, at the moment the list includes Kim, Kristi and Jan. Discussion took place whether to offer sets of lecture notes from classes for $50 to members who can’t spare time away from work . Program Reports: Deb Swackhamer’s talk seemed a resounding success, with good attendance and many perceptive questions. Tuesday the 26th January at 6 p.m. at Hewlett-Packard’s offices on Larpenteur there will be a social hour. At 7 p.m., Leon Blumberg, formerly of H-P, will expound upon Fast GC and Method Translation. Andrew's still working on ideas for the March meeting. Membership: Tom Robison reported that the mailing list has been updated with Spring Symposium names and numbers, for the moment, is around 700. He’d like the membership update form in the newsletter for a couple of issues and has given it to Kristi. Both Tom and Jan are keeping mailing lists. Newsletter: David W. suggested contacting local colleges and recruiting students to write 1-2 page papers for the Newsletter, allowing them to get editorial feedback from the Board and to become published. He’ll contact chemistry professors at Augsburg, St. Catherine’s, Macalester, and St. Mary’s. Luke agreed to check in with St. Thomas and Hamline, David E. will talk to St. John’s and St. Benedict’s. Old Business: (1) The set-up fees for links to our web page have generated some disgruntlement and much discussion. Some thought the $500 initiation fee was a tad high, although they had no real complaints about the $150 maintenance fee. Ravi will write a letter to everyone explaining we’d overestimated set-up fees so we’re notching down the initiation fee to $50 and keeping the maintenance at $150/year. (2) We’ve gotten official notification from the lawyers we’d retained to try to get us tax-exempt status for state sales tax. Bottom line: No dice. The law’s very specific about who’s exempt, we are not. We don’t fully fit the educational requirements and we’re essentially a professional organization. (3) David W. has been trying to rev up the Palmer award process. The process is not part of the constitution nor even of the job descriptions, therefore can be changed. David intends to do so, and plans on giving us the names of the award committee at the next Board meeting. (4) The familiar subject of recruiting new members arose again. Luke would like copies of newsletters and flyers to hand out when he’s off visiting environmental types, David E. suggested giving vendors a $10 rebate on web maintenance costs for every member they sign up (to a limit of $150/year ). Luke also suggested a web search to see if there are local companies we’ve missed and if potential members may be lurking therein. Next Meeting: January 6, 1999. Announcing the MCF Winter Course Offering... " Topics in Advanced Gas Chromatography" This workshop will provide training and insight in advanced applications and techniques for GC, along with their application to practical industry and laboratory problems. The course will include classroom instruction along with a question and answer session for problems encountered in laboratory settings. All class participants are encouraged to bring issues and concerns to the course for discussion.This session's two instructors are well known to the MCF, both having taught previous GC courses for our membership body, including Advanced GC and GC Troubleshooting! Program: Sessions will begin at 8:00 AM and end at approximately 5:00 PM. Lunch will be provided each day along with morning and afternoon breaks. Parking is available in nearby pay lots. Instructors: Daron Decker and Dr. Philip Stremple of J&W Scientific Date/Time: February 2nd & 3rd, 1999; 8:00 am - 5:00 p.m. Location: Topics to be covered include: For more information, contact Jan Jopke, Course Coordinator, at (612) 949-2518. To register for the course, complete the form below and send it with a check for $335, payable to the Minnesota Chromatography Forum. Mail to: Name, Title: ____________________________________________ Institution or Company:____________________________________ Street Address:___________________________________________ City, State, Zip Code:_______________________________________ Telephone/FAX:____________________________________________ Vegetarian lunch? Yes _________ No __________ DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION:January 22nd, 1999 MCF Web Site www.minnchrom.org Ravi Ravichandran I take this opportunity to invite you to take advantage of the Vendor Support page on the MCF web site. From this page we hope to acknowledge the vendors who support the MCF. For a nominal cost, MCF can provide a link from our web page to your home page, thus allowing the visitors of MCF home page to easily access your home page. As you know, MCF is a forum that serves the needs of scientists involved in the area of separation science. MCF believes that linking your home page with MCF home page is another sure way to attract potential customers to your web site to find out about your products and services. MCF will set up a link to your home page for an initial setup cost of $50 and a nominal cost of $150 per year. If you send an electronic copy of your logo, we will incorporate your logo into the MCF's Vendor Support page with a link to your web site. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. In order to initiate the process of linking your web site to MCF home page, please fill out the form below. You can reach me by phone at 651-575-1407 or via email at rravichandran@mmm.com if you have any questions regarding this matter. I am sure some of you are wondering why there is a cost to getting a link. Maintaining a web site like the existing one does cause strain on the budget of MCF. As you may be aware, MCF is a true non-profit organization operating on a very limited budget to organize quarterly meetings and the annual Spring Symposium. Your willingness to have a link will allow MCF web site to be self supporting and will not consume the precious budget dollars. . FORM TO OBTAIN LINK TO MCF WEB SITE Organization Name: ____________________________ Mailing Address _______________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Contact Person ________________________________ Email Address _________________________________ Phone Number ________________________________ Your Website Address:__________________________ Do you want your logo to appear on the MCF web
page? If you want your logo, please send an electronic copy of the logo on a floppy disk if possible. Good quality photographs are acceptable. The size of the logo on the screen will be about 1"x 2" I/we have enclosed $200 for the initial set up of the link to the above mentioned website. We understand that the initial set up cost will provide an active link through December 31, 1999. We at our discretion will continue to support the web page for an annual cost of $150 which will start on January 1, 2000. Signature :________________________ Please mail the form along with payment by check and other material to: Dr. Ravi Ravichandran |
