Table of Contents

From the Editor's Desk

Ravi Ravichandran

I received several positive and constructive notes about the September issue of MCF Retention Times. The general feeling was that the newsletter looks good. Thank you for those who took the time to write a note. Every attempt will be made to address the comments and concerns. Please send us your comments and opinions about the events that are happening in the area of Separation Science. There is plenty of room in the newsletter to accommodate them.

I will be failing in my duties if I did not extend an apology to John Freeburg of Agilent Technologies. I mistakenly identified him as John Greenburg. I first thought of passing the blame on to the "Spell Checker". Kidding aside, I have no excuse for misstating the name of a well wisher of MCF. Sorry John. I will make every attempt to avoid such mistakes in future.

This issue of newsletter is rather slim from the news stand point. Please do send the editors any news items you may have. By the way, the deadline for receiving newsletter items for November issue is October 20, 2000.

Is Your MCF Registration Up To Date?

Tom Robison

Welcome to the MCF. The new membership year began with the Spring Symposium in May, and the membership list has now been updated. Membership in the MCF is renewed annually at the time of the Spring Symposium. If you had not registered for the Spring Symposium or renewed your membership at that time, you may now notice a renewal message on your mailing label for this newsletter. The membership dues is $15. Please use the PEEL OFF address label, make any necessary changes or corrections, and include a middle initial.

The MCF exists solely for the benefit of its members. We are always interested in receiving your comments regarding MCF activities and ways in which the MCF can more closely meet your needs and interests. To improve our member outreach, we ask you to encourage your colleagues to consider membership as well. Please photocopy the membership form as necessary. The MCF also maintains a website at www.minnchrom.org. Please take the time to visit, we think you will be pleased. Thank you very much for your interest in the MCF.

Please check your mailing label. Is your name spelled correctly? Are your address and zip code correct? Are you receiving more than one copy?

[Web Editor Note:  You can also follow the Membership link on the website to obtain a new membership form or update your membership information on-line.]

Present: G. Bailie, S. Cherney, P. Jackson, J Jopke, R. Ravichandran, T. Robison, P. Sackett, W. Swanson, R. Wittrig

Treasurer’s Report: Current balance is $33,011.85, with most Symposium finances settled, but expenses from the May quarterly meeting not posted.

Symposium Committee Report: The final attendance for the 2000 Symposium was 307, compared to 294 in 1999. Overall response was positive, and the meeting deemed a success. Roberta Taylor will chair the committee for the 2001 event, to be held 15-17 May with Csaba Horvath as keynote speaker.

Education Committee Report: As of 11 September we had 19 registrants for the GPC course. The Undergraduate Award may get an overhaul this year, as we try to increase submissions by making the process easier for the students and the stipend more attractive. Course ideas will always be accepted with gratitude.

Newsletter: Costs are down, the look is different, the deadline will be the 3rd Friday of every month and will be posted in the previous edition. Comments and suggestions can be directed to the co-editors, and guest columnists are heartily encouraged to submit articles.

Old Business: No decision was reached on a policy regarding distribution of the MCF mailing list to members. MinnMass expressed great enthusiasm about the joint meeting, which was about a 50:50 split between MCF and MinnMass members.

Next Board Meeting October 23, 2000.

The Symposium Committee will hold its first meeting sometime in October. As the Chair of the Symposium Committee, I invite anyone interested in joining the committee to contact Roberta Taylor at 651-633-0101 or rtaylor@mad.scientist.com for details.

INTERPHEX California Meeting
September 26-27, 2000

Have you heard of INTERPHEX(International Pharmaceuticals Exposition)? I did not know about it until last month. I heard that Interphex was having its regional meeting at Long Beach, California. Since I was going to be in California I decided to attend the meeting with several colleagues from my plant. Before making the decision, I did check out their program on the web. It seemed reasonable. Was I in for surprises?

It was the most poorly organized conference I have ever attended. It appeared that about 600-700 conferees attended. Their technical sessions were poor. The program consisted of two concurrent 90-minute sessions on 26th and 27th September and several workshops. The ones I was interested in attending were canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. There was a large exposition related to Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing. The expo would have been of little interest to any chemist.

The conference charged a stiff registration fee of $295 for one day( $450 for two days). The conference did not meet my expectations from either the organizational or technical content viewpoint. I could not help but compare the MCF Spring Symposium to the Interphex meeting. I came away with the satisfaction that the MCF Spring Symposium provides the best value at a very nominal cost. MCF keep up the good work!

Editors’ Note: Did you attend a meeting that may be of interest to MCF members? Please write a synopsis of what you thought of it and send it to rravichandran@mmm.com

Extra! Extra!! Extra!!!

The fall 2000 National Meeting of ACS had a special session on "Detection of Explosives: Challenges to Chemists". Separation techniques, especially Ion Chromatography and Capillary Electrophoresis for measuring ions such as perchlorate and thiocyanate in explosives were discussed by Prof. Bruce McCord . For more details see the September 11, 2000 issue of C&E News.

ACS Award in Separations Science & Technology sponsored by IBC Advanced Technologies Inc. and Millipore Corp., will be awarded to Csaba Horvath of Yale University, USA.

ACS Award in Chromatography sponsored by Supelco Inc., will be awarded to Ernst Bayer of University of Tubingen, Germany.

Both awards will be presented on April 3, 2001 at the 221st ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA.

"Beginning Gas Chromatography"
November 14^th - 16^th, 2000