Lab Life-Line Monthly
Practical Advice for the Busy Lab
from ACCTA, Inc.

Vol. 4, No. 10-12.                                                                                 Winter, 2015
ACCTA, Inc wishes you . . .

 





















We want to take this opportunity to wish you a joyous holiday season, and to thank you for all you have done to help make this a good year.

Our best to you for the coming year!

"That's the Way We Have Always Done It!"

The most dangerous words I can hear from a lab.  Why?

Because if you have been doing it that way for more than 10 years, there is good chance that what you are doing is:

  • Not necessary, or
  • Wrong!
There have been tremendous advances in analytical instruments and software.  Both LC and GC column technology is better than just ten years ago in terms of both configurations, phase choices, and lot-to-lot variability.
 
In the "Not Necessary" category I often see the following:

  • Equilibrating columns for 30 minutes or longer
  • Adding blank injections to "clean" the autosampler
  • Using long columns (>15 cm for LC or>20 m for GC)
  • Using larger diameter columns
  • Filtering HPLC grade solvents
  • Using calibration curves with too many standards
  • Injecting all samples in triplicate (yes, it is needs in some situations, but not always)
  • Using buffers when your analytes are not acids or bases
In the "Wrong" category, check out these examples:
  • Not filtering samples
  • No doing enough, or any, sample preparation to save your column
  • Not cleaning your column
  • Not storing columns in an appropriate solvent or location
  • Injecting water or using a water wash to "clean" reversed phase columns
  • Injecting samples dissolved in hexane (or other water immiscible solvents) onto a C18 column
  • Using old columns for method development
  • Using only C18 columns
I could think of many more; these are the ones that come up most often.  Maybe you have more?  Feel free to send them in.

Change is hard for many labs, but almost always will result in an improved procedure or reduced time and costs. Don't be afraid to take a fresh look at what you do and decide if it is time for a change.

We are always happy to discuss your individual needs, and to help you develop a customized plan that will get your lab working better. Just contact us to discuss your situation.

Thought For Today

"The truly awesome intellectuals in our history have not merely made discoveries; they have woven variegated, but firm, tapestries of comprehensive coverage .... What can be more destructive of our fragile community than the mode of criticism that slices a jagged hunk out of the tapestry, misreads and simplifies the item as a strawman in a campaign of destruction, and then tries to define the scholar by the misappropriated patch? He who steals my purse does steal trash, but he who slices and dices my tapestry cuts out my heart."


– Stephen Jay Gould,
Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History,
Norton, New York, 1993, p. 125
In This Issue

Other Training Events
20 January 2016
March 22-23
July 6-7

·
NEW!
Practical Guide to  Reversed-Phase Mode.

This class will be available for in-house presentation next year.

Download Section
Minnesota Chromatography Forum, May, 2014:

Sometimes spending a little money can save you a lot!
Contact Details
Merlin K. L. Bicking, Ph. D.
ACCTA, Inc.
3534 Jessie Ct, Saint Paul, MN  55125 USA
Phone:  +1 (651) 731-3670+1 (651) 731-3670
Email: info@accta.com