The 6th International Multidimensional Chromatography Workshop
Meeting report by David Megson Ryerson (University and Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change)
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ECG Bulletin July 2015
[email protected]
ECG Bulletin July 2015
On January 6th and 7th 2015, the 6th International Multidimensional Chromato-graphy Workshop was held at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) in Toronto, show-casing advances in gas chromatography with applications in many areas, including environmental chemistry.
This event appears to be growing in popularity each year and attracted over 150 participants from industry, academia and government, with 32 speakers from around the globe, including Australia, Europe and North America. The meeting proved a great place to discuss recent advances in multidimensional chromatography and also see what new and diverse applications the technique is finding in the field of environmental chemistry.
This event appears to be growing in popularity each year and attracted over 150 participants from industry, academia and government, with 32 speakers from around the globe, including Australia, Europe and North America. The meeting proved a great place to discuss recent advances in multidimensional chromatography and also see what new and diverse applications the technique is finding in the field of environmental chemistry.
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The first day contained a variety of interesting talks with several speakers explaining how to optimise analysis through the correct column combinations and modulation periods. There was also a tasty presentation by Jeff Focant, whose research group at the University of Liѐge, Belgium, has been analysing the composition of Trappist beers.
Several presentations focused on environmental chemistry applications, including the use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) for characterising volatile organic carbons (VOCs) from diesel emissions (Salim Alam, University of Birmingham) and cadavers (P-H Stefanuto, University of Liege, Belgium); investigating debris from arsonous fires (Phil Richards, Chemistry Matters); and using GCxGC data processing scripts to identify emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (Miren Pena, University of Toronto). It was great to see the large variety of different applications where multidimensional chromatography was being used to solve complex environmental problems. |
Analysing complex mixtures. This 3D chromatogram shows the complex mixture of phenolic compounds in a bio-oil sample.
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My own presentation focused on identifying the source of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure for workers at a transformer dismantling plant. I was originally scheduled to give my talk on the second day but took the opportunity to fill the slot of John Dimandja (Spelman College), the latest person to suffer the curse of Chicago O’Hare airport. The day ended with a social mixer in a local hotel which was kindly sponsored by Leco.
The second day included another set of high quality presentations. Sarah Prebihalo and Maura McGonigal (Penn State) discussed the use of GCxGC for environmental forensics investigations. Other speakers reported on the analysis of DDT derivatives in dolphins (Susan Mackintosh, San Diego State), exhaled breath condensate ((John Dimandja, Spelman College), and PACs in snow deposits (Carlos Manzano, Environment Canada). It was quite a shock to see the high levels of DDT and its derivatives that have been recorded in dolphins from the south west coast of the USA.
Whilst the conference was mainly focused on gas chromatography, there were also talks on multidimensional liquid chromatography (LC) and an interesting combination of LC with gene receptor assays for the simultaneous detection of chemicals and their toxicity (Willem Jonker, IVM-VU University of Amsterdam). The conference provided an excellent snapshot of state-of-the-art chromatography.
The second day included another set of high quality presentations. Sarah Prebihalo and Maura McGonigal (Penn State) discussed the use of GCxGC for environmental forensics investigations. Other speakers reported on the analysis of DDT derivatives in dolphins (Susan Mackintosh, San Diego State), exhaled breath condensate ((John Dimandja, Spelman College), and PACs in snow deposits (Carlos Manzano, Environment Canada). It was quite a shock to see the high levels of DDT and its derivatives that have been recorded in dolphins from the south west coast of the USA.
Whilst the conference was mainly focused on gas chromatography, there were also talks on multidimensional liquid chromatography (LC) and an interesting combination of LC with gene receptor assays for the simultaneous detection of chemicals and their toxicity (Willem Jonker, IVM-VU University of Amsterdam). The conference provided an excellent snapshot of state-of-the-art chromatography.
