Chromatography Forum

Last week I attended a discussion group organized by CASSS with Robert Stevenson, Tom Jupille and David Sparkman as panelists.

On my blog I summarized notes from the evening and I'd like to read your views on the news and future of analytical chemistry/separations.

And I would start with one (maybe) heretic question: Is LC sample preparation technique for MS?

J.

Just visited your blog, very good!

This is an interesting question and answers have to be controversial. My answer is yes to it, and I am sure many will disagree.

My predication is that in the future, many MS applications no longer need a HPLC, a good sample now is the new born screening condcuted in some state laboratories like Minnesota.

thank you

I still believe that LC will be (maybe not necessary) but very helpful for MS detection - maybe not for all applications (sure not) but for complex samples and minimal or no sample pretreatment.

With very complex mixtures and with the possibility of isobaric analytes, some sort of separation will always be needed.

What do you think is a future of analytical chemistry?

MS has its limitations: interferences from complex samples such as plasma samples, which mess up the qunatitation, no matter how sophisticated your MS is. LC on its own is often own partially helpful, since in many cases one still has coelution of interferences. 2-D LC, or simply a well designed solid-phase extraction technique combined with LC/MS will solve this problem.

So, MS is just one tool for such complex analyses, and neither LC nor SPE will disappear.

Maybe we older people, who had initially only mass spectrometers available, see the use of seperation/purification steps ahead of MS differently. One doesn´t even need a complex matrix for MS to fail. As an example from a very long time ago: I had a highly pure mixture of geometric isomers which gave the same mass spectrum (including fragments), so that ratioes could not bee determined. Only with the help of GC could we continue the project.
Other students at the University of Colorado had similar problems. To reduce the amount of substance needed, we students helped the technicians to develop a GC-MS. This was several years before HP GC-MS equipment was available, which seemed like heaven on earth compared to the home-built equipment. Anyway, I can´t imagine MS without some pre-technique, except if a single highly pure substance is to be analyzed or if separation is simple on MS.

I believe that there are still places where chromatography can still be improved, and as long as this exists, LC/GC - MS will not be separated.

Thank you for your thoughts

I promised not to tell until it is published. But, I can say that I am working with super-sensitive NMR now.