LabrulezGCMS-EN

14/08/2026

From dentistry to decomposition chemistry! In Concentrating on Chromatography, host David Oliva interviews Dr. Darshil Patel, Assistant Professor of Forensic Science at the University of North Dakota, on decoding human decomposition with GC×GC–TOF-MS. 🧪🔬

• 🌍 Career journey across India, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.—from teeth to taphonomy
• 🦴 Inside human taphonomic facilities (“body farms”): what really happens and why it matters
• 🧫 GC×GC–TOF-MS separates complex VOC profiles, boosting human-remains detection and cadaver-dog training
• 🤖 Toward electronic noses for hazardous or inaccessible scenes—complements, not replaces, dogs
• 🌦️ Why climate, geography, and individual biology make decomposition chemistry hard to predict
• 🖥️ Tackling big data with vendor and open-source tools; the push for larger, multi-site studies
• 🧱 Building a new GC×GC-enabled forensic lab at the University of North Dakota, including hydrogen carrier gas exploration

A must-listen for forensic and separation science pros. 🎧

13/08/2026

Level up your separation science skills! 🚀 Join LECO’s free two-day Separation Science Workshop at Cal State LA’s C³AL Laboratory on September 23–24, 2026. 🍽️ Meals and refreshments included.

• 📅 Day 1: GC×GC fundamentals—discover how comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography boosts research, solves complex challenges, and advances lab/company goals.
• 🧪 Day 2: Hands-on training—work directly with LECO instrumentation, follow practical workflows, and analyze your own samples with guidance from LECO application scientists.
• 🔬 Venue: Complex Chemical Composition A**lysis Lab (C³AL) at Cal State LA—featuring systems like the LECO Pegasus BTX and LECO QUADJET GCxGC coupled to Pegasus BT 4D TOM MS.
• 🎯 Space is limited—secure your seat now!

👉 Register: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=iYeNbqIuykW7qZP4_jUEVbznDB40eK1PgjPzhHyb__9URTFTTFA5UEEzQ1A4MUtFV0o4TEJTNlZCOS4u&route=shorturl

**lyticalChemistry

Attend LECO’s free GC×GC workshop at Cal State LA, September 23–24, 2026, featuring theory, hands-on instrument training, expert guidance, and sample analysis.

12/08/2026

🚀 The European Commission’s Innovation Radar has spotlighted GN3 — a nitrogen-enriched graphene nanomaterial from CATRIN, Palacký University Olomouc — for strong commercial potential. 🏆

• What it is: ⚡ A graphene-based electrode that pushes volumetric energy density in supercapacitors, enabling several-fold higher storage vs. current tech.
• Why it matters: 📈 Addresses surging demand from electronics and energy markets with highly market-ready performance.
• Who’s behind it: 🧪 CATRIN researchers; inventors include Michal Otyepka and Veronika Šedajová; tech transfer led by Jiří Navrátil. Origin in an ERC project on fluorographene.
• Traction: 💡 Prototypes under the EIC project TRANS2DCHEM with Bar-Ilan University and ITELCOND; patents licensed to spin-off Atomiver (since 2024). Selected for NATO DIANA and supported by CzechInvest.
• What’s next: 🤝 Active investor discussions, notes Andrew Hladký; the team is moving toward commercial production.

Use cases: data centres, IoT, transport, grid-scale storage, space electronics, implantable medical devices. 🔋🌍

CATRIN’s nitrogen-enriched graphene material for supercapacitors has been recognised by the European Commission as a promising market-ready innovation.

12/08/2026

GC×GC is redefining separation science. In this clear explainer, Duilio Romanello (Phenomenex) shows how two orthogonal columns + smart modulation unlock resolution, sensitivity, and insight from the most complex matrices. 🚀🧪

• What it is: two-dimensional gas chromatography that periodically modulates 1D effluent into a contrasting 2D column, creating sharp, structured chromatograms. 🔬
• Why it matters: massive peak capacity, better selectivity, and trace-level detectability via peak focusing. 🎯
• Where it shines: environmental PAHs/VOCs, petrochemical fingerprints, food/flavor authenticity, forensics/toxicology, metabolomics. 🌍⛽️☕️🧬
• Hurdles: instrument cost, method complexity, heavy data loads, and the need for GC×GC–MS for isomer ID; sample prep remains critical. ⚠️
• What’s next: portable platforms, HRMS coupling, AI/ML data automation, greener workflows, and growing clinical uses. 🤖🌱

If your 1D-GC misses co‑eluters, GC×GC can turn noise into knowledge. 📈

**lyticalChemistry **lysis

Explore GC×GC principles, key advantages, applications, limitations, and future trends in complex mixture analysis.

12/08/2026

LabRulezGCMS Library Week 33, 2026 highlights 🔬📚

• Agilent Technologies: Fast phthalates screening and confirmation on 8850 GC/5977C GC/MSD with H2 and midcolumn backflushing; DB‑EUPAH column; pen-cap screen flagged DEHP, DBP, DIBP, BBP, DEP. 🧪⚡️
• MDCW / JEOL: GCxGC‑HRTOFMS coffee aromas; >500 volatiles; multi‑software workflow (ChromSpace, A**lyzerPro XD, GC Image, msFineA**lysis AI) found a previously unreported compound. ☕🔎
• Shimadzu: Nexis GC‑2060 GC‑FID for volatile congeners and methanol in spirits; validated to EC 2870/2000; R² ≥ 0.9994, low RSDs; MMI cuts downtime. 🥃✅
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: MAX‑iR FTIR + ASC‑10 streamline SemiFab GHG abatement audits—one FTIR replaces multi‑instrument stacks; faster, simpler. 🏭♻️

Explore: https://gcms.labrulez.com/library

This week we bring you application notes by Agilent Technologies, Shimadzu and Thermo Fisher Scientific and poster by MDCW / JEOL!

11/08/2026

📏⚖️ How small should measurement uncertainty (MU) be? Eurachem explains why setting a target MU keeps results fit for purpose and decisions defensible.

• 🔍 Target MU = the maximum admissible uncertainty for a specific measurement goal.
• 🛡️ In compliance, MU must be small enough to reveal relevant deviations; too small wastes budget, too large risks wrong calls.
• 🍊 Case: Mr. Reis’ oranges. Lab C achieved ultra‑low MU for thiabendazole (costly) but too‑high MU for Brix. Both labs were metrologically compatible, yet supported different prices—proof that MU drives outcomes.
• 🧪 Labs should define target MU even when customers/regulators don’t.
• 📘 The Eurachem/CITAC Guide (utg/Utg) provides a practical hierarchy to set upper MU limits. Edited by R. Bettencourt da Silva and A. Williams.

💡 Bottom line: Align MU with purpose to optimize cost, protect health, and ensure fair trade.

**lyticalChemistry

Learn how target measurement uncertainty helps laboratories assess whether results are fit for purpose and support reliable compliance decisions.

11/08/2026

Chromatography leaders converge in Prague for ISC 2026 vendor seminars — where LC, GC‑MS, LC‑MS, and biotherapeutics take center stage! 📅 6–10 Sep • 📍 Prague 🇨🇿

• Avantor: Dr Matt James — Stationary Phase Selectivity: turbocharge resolution and speed across RP‑LC, HILIC, and SFC 🔬
• Shimadzu: Dr. Gesa Schad, Dr. Waldemar Weber — Nexera IC, Nexera X4, and GCMS‑TQ RX to rethink robustness, sensitivity, and throughput ⚙️
• Advanced Materials Technology: Stephanie Schuster, Joshua McBee, Conner McHale, Peter Pellegrinelli — Superficially porous particle columns vs. FPPs for pharma, pesticides, oligos ⚡
• Restek: Sebastian Prisacariu, Anna Pulte — Virtual chromatographic modeling to optimize isobaric separations in GC‑MS 🧠
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Sara Carillo, Ph.D. (NIBRT) and Sukhdev Bangar — ASOs and ADCs with novel RP columns, bioinert LC, and Orbitrap workflows for multi‑level characterization 🧬

• Lunch seminars: 7–8 Sep, 13:00–14:00
• Late registration until 25 Aug 2026

Join the oldest separation science series (since 1956) and elevate your methods, speed, and confidence. 🚀

**lyticalChemistry

Discover vendor seminars at ISC 2026 in Prague covering LC, GC-MS, LC-MS, stationary phases, method development, and biotherapeutic analysis.

10/08/2026

A**lytical Challenges and Strategies for Compound Identification Using GC‑IMS is a must‑read in A**l. Chem. (2026) 🚀 by Andrés Martín‑Gómez, María José Cardador, Laura Pérez‑González, and Lourdes Arce.

• What’s new 🧪: A rigorous, dual workflow for reliable VOC IDs in GC‑IMS.
• How 🔧: Combine library searches using RI+DT (±5 RI; ±0.02 DT) with analytical standards for confirmation.
• Why it matters ⚠️: Retention indices alone mislead; overlapping signals and ion competition demand standards.
• Case study 🫒: Virgin olive oil—167 features detected; 45 annotated; 29 confirmed (~17% validated).
• Impact ✅: Clear guidelines, confidence levels, and a reproducible path to higher‑quality GC‑IMS results.

Read the study: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5c07242

**lyticalChemistry **lysis

Combining library searches with analytical standards improves reliable VOC identification by GC-IMS and resolves ambiguous features.

07/08/2026

🚆⚠️ In Feb 2025, a tanker train derailed in Hustopeče nad Bečvou, spilling benzene. CXI TUL mobilized from lab to field to protect groundwater and surface waters—science on the front lines.

• At the request of DEKONTA, a.s., a team led by RNDr. Jan Němeček, Ph.D., tested in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) 🧪
• Two oxidants compared: activated hydrogen peroxide vs. activated sodium peroxodisulfate ⚗️
• Both removed up to 99.99% benzene; hydrogen peroxide achieved near‑complete degradation in about a day ⏱️✅
• Peroxodisulfate was slower and acidified water, increasing sulfate—an added environmental burden ⚠️
• Recommendation for field use: activated hydrogen peroxide 🛠️
• Team quantified soil oxidant consumption (SOD) to set correct doses—boosting effectiveness, safety, and cost efficiency 📏💧♻️
• One year on, these results directly guided cleanup decisions—university research delivering real-world impact 🔬➡️🌍

CXI TUL tested ISCO for benzene remediation after the Hustopeče nad Bečvou accident, with activated hydrogen peroxide proving the best option.

06/08/2026

🔬 GC-MS made clear! Phenomenex explains how Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry pairs GC’s separation power with MS’s molecular “fingerprints” to identify, quantify, and elucidate structures—even at trace levels. 🧪

• How it works: GC separates compounds by volatility and polarity; MS ionizes and fragments them, reading m/z to deliver unique spectra. ⚗️📊
• Workflow: Sample intro → GC column separation → heated transfer → ionization (electron impact/chemical ionization) → mass analysis (quadrupole/ion trap/TOF) → detection (TIC + spectra). 🔁
• Applications: Forensic science, pharmaceuticals, environmental testing, food safety, and clinical/biomedical research. 🌍🍎🏥
• Why it matters: High sensitivity and specificity, structural insight, minimized matrix effects, accurate quantitation, and fast library matching. ✅

A practical primer to optimize injectors, columns, and detectors—and boost accuracy and reproducibility. 💡 Thanks to Phenomenex for the clear, actionable guide.

**lyticalChemistry

Discover how GC-MS works, its key principles, workflow, benefits, and applications in pharmaceutical, environmental, food, and forensic analysis.