Wednesday, 24 April 2013

MTS Recommends... Chromatography Modelling


MTS Recommends... Chromatography ModellingChromatography Modelling in High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method Development
by Imre Molnár, Hans-Jürgen Rieger, Institute for Applied Chromatography, Berlin, Germany
Róbert Kormány, Egis Pharmaceutical, Budapest, Hungary
Chromatography Today, March 2013

I often recommend the use of chromatography modelling in my HPLC method development courses. This article provides an overview of the history of this approach over the last 30 years and should be useful to anyone interested in the topic.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

MTS Recommends... 17 Ways to Stop Pipetting Errors Ruining Your Experiments

17 Ways to Stop Pipetting Errors Ruining Your Experiments

by Nick Oswald in Lab Equipment
17 Ways to Stop Pipetting Errors Ruining Your Experiments
Many analysts just assume that micro-pipettes are dispensing perfectly every time but like any piece of analytical equipment this is only true if they are used and maintained correctly. This helpful article explains how you can ensure that pipette error is minimised.

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

MTS Recommends... Water Purification Guide

Water Purification Guide
This buyer's guide from SelectScience provides a straightforward overview of the different methods of water purification used to produce the water used in laboratories.
From an HPLC perspective, water is a very common mobile phase component and effective troubleshooting requires an understanding of what could be present in the water being used. I think this guide may be helpful for this purpose.

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Early Booking Deadlines Coming Up Soon!

MTS offer very generous discounts for early booking on our training courses. The deadline is coming up very soon for our London courses in April and Berlin courses in May. Submit a booking form, or just contact us, to secure our early booking rate by the 22nd March for London, and by the 10th April for Berlin.

The courses are:
Validation ofAnalytical Methods for Pharmaceutical Analysis
London (@ Jurys Inn Heathrow) on 10th & 11th April 2013
Berlin (@ Steigenberger Hotel Berlin) on 6th & 7th May 2013
Transfer of Analytical Methods for PharmaceuticalAnalysis
London (@ Jurys Inn Heathrow) on 12th April 2013
Berlin (@ Steigenberger Hotel Berlin) on 8th May 2013
How to Develop Stability Indicating HPLC Methods
London (@ Jurys Inn Heathrow) on 15th & 16th April 2013
  

Thursday, 7 March 2013

HPLC Troubleshooting Tip: Preventing Mobile Phase Problems When Using TFA

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is a very common additive in reversed phase HPLC mobile phase. It is used extensively as an ion pairing reagent for peptide analysis but also as an acid modifier in a wide range of applications. Generally, TFA provides good peak shapes and reproducible chromatography and is compatible with a range of detectors, being volatile and of low UV absorbance.  However, if you are using TFA then there are a few things to be aware of which will ensure that you get the best results.
Impurities in TFA may cause noise, high background and spiking in your chromatography. These impurities may come from using low grade reagent or old bottles of TFA. I recommend that a suitable reagent grade is used (preferably HPLC grade) and also, to prevent stability problems, use small bottles so that an opened bottle of TFA is not sitting on your laboratory shelf for a long time. Be careful that a single bottle is opened at a time, especially if there are multiple users. Depending on your requirements, you may find it more convenient to use ampoules of TFA but, as you might expect, these are more costly.
TFA is a strong acid; amounts in mobile phase are typically ~ 0.1%v/v or lower. Concentrated TFA is quite dense (1.53 g/mL). This means that the difference between %w/v and %v/v is significant and may be enough to affect your chromatography. Therefore I recommend that you specify the units rather than just write ‘0.1%’ in your analytical procedure.
  

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

HPLC Training Courses in Dublin – May 2013

Join us in Dublin this May to learn about how to get the most out of HPLC. We are offering four HPLC training courses from our 'How to...' series which are designed to provide both theoretical and practical advice, enabling straight to lab application. Whether you are a complete beginner or are already using HPLC we can help to develop your expertise.

The courses are as follows:
How to Run HPLC Methods: Monday 20th May 2013
Ideal for anyone new to HPLC, this course will demystify all the parameters required to run a HPLC method.
How to Troubleshoot HPLC: Tuesday 21st May 2013
Will suit HPLC users who want to be able to keep their HPLC system up and running, by sorting out problems as they occur.
How to Develop HPLCMethods – Part 1: Wednesday 22nd May 2013 & How to Develop HPLC Methods– Part 2: Thursday 23rd May 2013
These two courses can be taken together or separately and will describe a strategy for selecting the best HPLC method conditions for your separation.
We are offering the following discounts until 25th April 2013:
€350 per person per day, 2 days for €650, 3 days for €950 
or 4 days for €1250
Academic discounts and group discounts also available up to 25th April, contact us for a quote.
After 25th April all courses are charged at full price of €425 per person per day.
Note: All prices are quoted exclusive of VAT
Includes:
  • Comprehensive handouts for each course containing useful reference data.
  • Free tools to help you use HPLC efficiently.
  • A Certificate of Attendance. There is an optional post training assessment to obtain a Certificate of Training.
  • Expert Advice from the MTS trainer on your HPLC problems, both on the day of the training and after the event.
Click here for a printer friendly summary of these courses.