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| Volume 17, Number 9 | June/July 2001 |
Table of Contents
Calendar of Events |
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| Nov 6-8, 2001 | Beginning HPLC |
| Nov 27-28, 2001 | Advanced HPLC |
| Jan 8-10, 2002 | Beginning GC |
| Feb 5-7, 2002 | Designed Experiments in Chromatography |
From the President's Desk
Ward Swanson
As my first duty as incoming President of the MCF, I would like to thank all the people who made this year’s symposium a success. I think it was one of the best, especially considering the power failures and floods experienced at the Earl Browne Heritage Center. I think it was a great honor for our organization to have Dr. Horvath as the keynote speaker this year. After listening to his presentation, I would concur with Dr. Carr when he said that Dr. Horvath was always twelve years ahead of everyone else. A salute to everyone involved.
The main agenda I have for the next year is twofold. First, I would like to continue the call of Past President Luke Charpentier, and encourage everyone to recruit a colleague to the MCF ranks. I have seen that the greater the membership the better the variety and scope of the speakers, classes and discussions. I myself interact with dozens of laboratories every year all across the country, and I am surprised at the lack of quality organizations available to chromatographers. Secondly, I would like to promote volunteering in the MCF to encompass a wider variety of you in directing the organization. I will try to accomplish this through various strong-arm tactics as well as trying to communicate to you all the high points of helping out in the organization. For me, it has included meeting some great people, and keeping a fresh technical perspective.
My greatest challenge for 2001-2002 will be to add some stability to the board meetings as some long time committee and board members called it quits this year. They have departed leaving the organization in great shape, and I hope to keep us on the same path.
If you have any desire to join in on any committee work or have any comments please email me at wswanson@barr.com or phone at (952) 832-2660.
I am looking forward to a great year.
2001 Palmer Award Winner
Ravi Ravichandran
As the Chair of the Palmer Award Committee, I had the privilege of awarding the 2001 Palmer Award to David J. Ehresman on May 17, 2001 at the 22nd Spring Symposium. David has the distinction of being a co-author of the ground breaking publication " Screening of Biological Samples for Underivatized drugs using Capillary GC"( J. Anal. Toxicology 1985). David has been associated with MCF since the early 80's and has served MCF in various capacities including Education Committee Chair, Director and President. David has held several positions both in government and private industries fr over 15 years and has contributed greatly to the environmental public health issues. David currently works as Analytical Toxicology Specialist at 3M Company.
Congratulations David!
Education Corner
Kimberly Grandprey
There comes a time in everyone’s life when change is needed, and this is my time! At the time this article is actually received by the MCF membership, I will have officially passed on the reins of Education Chair to Michelle Iverson.
Over the past 7 years I have seen lots of change to the MCF as well as on the education committee. We have changed Symposium meeting locations from the Thunderbird in Bloomington to the Minneapolis Convention Center to our present home at the Earle Brown Heritage Center. I have seen the education committee go from five members to as many as nine members. More directly, I have seen my job become a little easier with the mainstreaming of education documents from paper copies to electronic files.
While I would like to think that stepping down from this role would provide me with more free time, this is far from the case. My daughters are getting older and their activities are placing an increasing demand on my free (driving!) time. And don’t think that you’ll be rid of me yet! I will still be running around behind the scenes supporting the education committee as a member.
See you ‘round the MCF!
Course Reviews
Practical Advice for Developing Better GC Methods.
Review of a Symposium
Course, by Michelle Iverson and Gibbes Bailie
The Symposium’s advanced GC course taught by Cameron George and Daron Decker of Agilent Technologies explored how to properly develop and optimize a method utilizing and applying GC theory. In addition to the lecture content, students were given free method translation (MTL) software that can help the analyst reduce analysis time by calculating the adjustments needed for different column lengths, diameters, column outlet pressures, carrier gases, etc.
The class was very lively with a lot of student – teacher interaction. The class began with basic GC theory and advanced to other topics, including sample introduction modes, the importance of defining your sample and goals prior to method development, and optimizing temperature programs. The second portion of the class was devoted to putting the lecture into practice with lab problems. The students were divided into 4 groups and given
the challenge to optimize several GC runs. Surprisingly, each experiment had a different group develop the "best" separation conditions, and one group even beat the instructor’s "optimized" conditions for an experiment!Overall the class and lab were received very well. Surprisingly, the power failure seemed to have a positive effect on the lab portion of the course. During this time students were given a set of pre-lab questions to think about, discuss, and answer. The response from the students on this extra time for discussion was positive, as some felt it made the lab portion of the class that much more productive. The instructors are even considering adding a "power-failure inspired" discussion break to future classes. A special thanks to the vendors who supported this class: Agilent, Lakeview, Perkin Elmer, and Shimadzu and to the students who endured the most "challenging" environmental conditions at an MCF Symposium yet!
Basic LC/MS Techniques
Review of a Symposium
Course, by DeWayne Townsend
The Symposium’s Basic LC/MS taught by Dr. Roger A. Upham, Matthew J. Dilts, and John Van Antwerp covered a multitude of LC/MS issues. It started out with a brief, but interesting history of the marriage between High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectral Analysis. The focus then narrowed to the discussion of the HPLC/MS interface followed by a stimulating presentation on the various types of Mass Analyzers and their advantages and disadvantages when used with HPLC. The course wrapped up with a series of applications and audience questions.
The history of LC/MS started with a discussion of the "Moving belt" through Thermospray to Particle Beam, Fast Atom Bombardment (FAB) and Atmospheric Pressure Ionization (API). API and FAB are currently the most successful. The discussion of LC/MS interfaces was somewhat vendor specific in the examples, but very general in theory. The issues of column flow, column capacity, split or direct flow temperature and solvent considerations were all discussed. The use of LC/MS still needs a good separation. Nebulization, desolvation and ionization are the purpose of the LC/MS interface. How uniform nebulization, rapid desolvation and efficient ionization were accomplished with various interface designs was discussed as were the pros and cons of using API or FAB with the various interfaces. This section included a good discussion of using "positive of negative" mode to study samples and how multiply charged ions can be identified and used for the analysis of very high mass fragments.
Prior to the discussion of mass analyzers there was an interesting exercise in the power of "Exact Mass" to identify compounds and fragments. The mass analyzers discussed were Quadrupoles, Triple Quadrupoles, Time of Flight and Ion Traps and how each could be used for Mass Spectral Analysis, and MS-MS-…
The final segment of the class started with a discussion of quantification and the major issues of sensitivity/robustness, speed, security, validation and software. Several specific types of analyses were presented and several issues brought up by the course participants were addressed.
Introduction to Ion Chromatography
Review of a Symposium
Course, by Bill Cameron
Dr. Arthur W. Fitchett presented the short course on ion chromatography at the 2001 MCF Spring Symposium. Dr. Fitchett, a chemist from Dionex Corporation, took the class of twenty-two students through various facets of the discipline.
After a brief session on the history and general aspects of IC, the class turned to an in-depth discussion of the five primary separation modes, chemical suppression, and the five most widely used detection modes. These discussions definitely showed a 'blurring' of techniques, especially HPLC and IC. A discussion of modern instrumentation was used to show how the theory has been put into practice and specific applications were used to tie all of the parts of the class together.
The instructor's expertise in the area of ion chromatography was displayed throughout the course as he helped the students apply the lessons he’s learned over the years to their real-life samples and problems.
MINUTES OF THE MAY
2001 BOARD MEETING
OF THE MCF
Sarah Cherney
Present: Gibbes Bailie, Luke Charpentier, Janice Jopke, Ravi Ravichandran, Pat Sackett, Brian Leafblad, Michelle Iverson, Grant Paul, and Ward Swanson
Minutes: The meeting minutes form the April 30 were proposed by Luke and approved by Ravi.
Treasurer’s Report: Jan presented the treasurer’s report. After consultation with Sharon Dahl, our new treasurer, our current balance stands at approximately $42,000.
Education Committee Report: There was a lot of positive feedback on the courses. More courses have been planned and will be discussed at the next meeting.
Symposium Committee Report: Roberta Taylor indicated that the meeting went well with approximately 325 attendees. Steve Albrecht will take over the Vendor Exhibition from Charlie Jones in 2002
Newsletter: The last Newsletter of year 2000-2001 will be delayed by a month due to Ravi’s travel plans.
Website: No News.
Program Reports: No News.
Old Business: The gavel was handed to Ward and he accepted happily. Ward proceeded to announce the winners of the election:
Brian Leafblad is the President Elect.
Amy Hietala is the Secretary Elect
Grant Paul is the 1st year director
Congratulations to all!!!!
New Business: Ward has asked the Sarah be in charge of the mail box. The key has yet to be handed over.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be the end of August. Place is to be determined. Ward has indicated he will let us know.
From the Editor's Desk
Ravi Ravichandran
By the time this newsletter reaches you, you might have returned from your summer vacation or may be on your way to have a summer vacation. This will be the last issue for the year 2000-2001, as the MCF year runs from August -June. I was supposed to get the June newsletter out following the spring symposium. I just could not do it as I was getting ready to leave for India on a long awaited family vacation on May 18, the day after the symposium. The Board was kind enough to let me publish the last issue in July.
It has been a great year as far as the newsletter goes. The process of newsletter printing has been significantly streamlined. There are a few more things that need to be done manually still. It is my goal to get those automated as well. Then the only task for the editor will be to compose the newsletter. .I cannot thank enough, Brian Leafblad , the new President-elect of the MCF for his help in ensuring that the newsletter is error free. Thank you Brian.
Submission Due Dates for 2001-2002 Newsletters
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Month / year of the Issue |
Submission Deadline |
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September 2001 |
August 17, 2001 |
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October 2001 |
September 21, 2001 |
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November 2001 |
October 19, 2001 |
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December 2001- January 2002 |
December 14, 2001 |
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February 2002 |
January 18, 2002 |
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March 2002 |
February 15, 2002 |
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April 2002 |
March 15, 2002 |
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May 2002 |
April 19, 2002 |
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June 2002 |
May 31, 2002 |