Articles & Tech Notes
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The Latest from Our sp genevac & Articles & Tech Notes
Sample Protection
Did you ever calculate the value of the samples you put through your evaporator? In
many cases, the value of a month’s throughput is more than the value of the instrument
itself. We’re not talking about the value added by the evaporation step, but all the value
added up to now in getting the samples this far.
Why is this figure important? Because if your evaporation step were to damage your
samples, and you had to remake them, this is how much money you would be throwing
away.
Now, there’s no reason why you should do anything to damage samples in your
evaporator, provided you use it correctly. The point we’re making, though, is that your
primary focus must be to get your samples through the process intact, and uncompromised.
Getting them dry fast should be the second, not the first, priority.
Here we’ll be dealing with the various aspects of sample protection, and the things to
watch out for.
Use of Centrifugal Evaporation in Polymer De-Formulation Chemistry
Scientists working at the Great Lakes chemical company site in Manchester, UK have an interesting approach to new product development. As well as developing their own new products, they are also responsible for analyzing their competitor’s products too. This branch of the giant US-owned company specialises in the manufacture of polymer additives and the analytical laboratory in Trafford Park, as well as providing analytical services to R&D and manufacturing, specialises in de-formulating their rivals’ products.
Odour Reduction
Many solvent evaporators are routinely sited inside fume extraction
hoods because residual solvent vapour, remaining in the chamber at
the end of a run, can expose the operator to unwelcome, and
potentially harmful, odours when the system is opened.
In many cases these situations can be improved significantly by
simple changes in programming .
“Odour reduction” adds a repeated vent and vacuum cycle to the
end of a method, which purges the evaporation chamber of residual
solvent vapours. Utilisation of this function may enable the
evaporator to be sited on the open bench rather than taking up
valuable fume hood space.
Sample Preparation for the Detection of Synthetic Analogues of Insulin in Human Serum
The detection of the abuse of synthetic insulins by doping laboratories is likely to
become a routine requirement. The World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) code
normally requires the use of mass spectrometry to identify prohibited drugs but
peptide hormones are currently excluded because of the difficulty of obtaining mass
spectra from such large molecules at very low physiological concentrations. Recent
developments in applying mass spectrometry to proteomics means that it is becoming
feasible for doping laboratories to routinely apply such methodology to detect and
confirm the abuse of peptide hormones. The methodology to detect and confirm the
abuse of peptide hormones by mass spectrometry is preferred to the current use of
immunoassays or other immuno-reactive techniques. Insulin is a clear example of
how both endogenous insulin and its synthetic analogues can give a positive result
with some immunological assays but mass spectral analysis can easily distinguish
between them. The use of all types of insulin is prohibited by non-diabetic athletes but
it is desirable if possible to identify which form of insulin has been used.