Chromatography Forum

I'm new around here, and somewhat new to chromatography. I am currently a second year graduate student under John Dorsey. I joined here because I enjoy reading open forums and I quite enjoy separations chemistry.
Given all that, I just wanted to announce my arrival. Now please commence with the "New guy" bashing.
Brad VanMiddlesworth

Hi Brad,

I hope that your "quite enjoy" evolves into "really enjoy"

Cheers,

Ralph

Now please commence with the "New guy" bashing.

Nah, we do that behind your back.

Seriously, welcome!

Oh I see... It's one of THOSE forums.

I have noticed there hasn't been much traffic through the site in the last day or so. Is that normal or is it because it's the weekend?

Hi Brad,

Its kind of nice and peaceful forum and believe me, you will find some fantastic advice here as well. From being a complete novice at method development in GC, I can now safely say that when I need to develop my next method/s, I will be much more experienced (and less panicky ).

Welcome to the forum and as for 'new guy bashing' ...... wait and see


Salma

No real teasing, but keep this handy:

So after reading for the last two days I'm almost afraid to say anything here. You guys are very well versed and ask a lot of questions in retort to someone's questions. It's a bit intimmidating.

Given that, when posting a question about a problem I'm having, what good bits of info are necessary to ask properly?

On a side note, I'm learning on a Shimadzu and an HP stack. Where, other than the users manuals, can I find the differences between Waters, Agilent, Shimadzu, and HPs instruments?

If you just have the normal parameters included, like MP, flow, column and detector, ect... you should be ok. Basically mention whatever you think might be relevant... Otherwise be assured that you will be asked for more info! But I agree with the intimidation part.. Some of my questioning here just left me more puzzeled.. for a while at least!

For differences in systems try the manufactors website.. or contacting the vendor and get sent spec. sheets... Or try searching this forum... I recall seeing various systems being discussed. But as you are new I'll give you the first bit for free... HP is sold and supported by Agilent, so it's one and the same sytem.

So that´s behind some of that weird stuff... the feeling of being intimidated! Surely, I speak for just about everybody in saying that intimidation is not even entering the mind of those (me included) that have complained a bit about difficulties with some problem conveyance. Most of us, if not all, are a bit selfish (behind all this altruism you see here) in that we would like to learn something from other´s problems. Or in other words, a successful forum, like this one, is an enourmous blessing (which especially us older guys can highly appreciate, since this computer stuff is often so frustrating, otherwise). Now to keep this going on a high level (on a low level it will die) we all should put just a little effort into it. That does not mean we should be free of lapses or whatever. Just about all of us have bodged something.

I was a novice when I first joined the forum, but I must say that I did not find anyone/anything intimidating at all, in fact, everyone is really helpful and I have learnt heaps from here. Thank you to everyone....


Salma

Where, other than the users manuals, can I find the differences between Waters, Agilent, Shimadzu, and HPs instruments?

The spec. sheets and your own calibration records for each instrument will reveal their differences.

Practically speaking, the main differences to lookout for when it comes to running the same methods on different instruments are:

System Dwell Volume
High vs. Low pressure gradient mixing (1 pump or 2?)
Detector differences (flow cell vol. & length, PDA vs. UV)
Column heating method (passive vs. forced air)
Extra column volume (vol. between column & detector; between injector & column)

any I've missed?

PS - Tom - List code doesn't seem to work

Brad, it seems to work OK on my system:

"list" seems to work. A test:

• one
  two
  three
  four

"list=" also seems to work. Another test:

1. one
2. two
3. three
4. four

I personally find some of the BBCode syntax a bit arcane. The plain "list" command (in square brackets) is straightforward. The "list=" command is not. You have to put either a "1" or an "a" after the "list=" inside the brackets (I used an "a" in the example above). You also have to have an asterisk enclosed in square brackets at start of each item in the list. If you leave out the asterisk-in-brackets bit, "list=a" works just like "list".

Here's a link to the instructions:
http://www.phpbb.com/support/guide/#section4_2_5