Ronald E. Majors

Undoubtedly, Pittcon remains the most important yearly international analytical exhibition, where companies introduce their latest instruments, instrument accessories, software, columns, sample preparation equipment, and other consumable products. Because many past attendees have purchased one or more new products within three months after attending the show, most exhibitors attempt to maximize their booth traffic to meet as many potential customers as possible.

The purpose of this report is to provide information about many of the new separation consumables and accessory products that will be displayed at Pittcon 2009. In some cases, products that were introduced during 2008 but after Pittcon 2008 (1,2) might be included for reasons of completeness. The information is based upon manufacturers' responses to a questionnaire mailed in December 2008. Because of space limitations and the fact that some manufacturers did not respond to the questionnaire, this report cannot be considered an exhaustive listing of all new products that were introduced in Chicago. However, over the years, these Pittcon introduction summaries have provided a good source of information that would be difficult for one individual to gather during the four days of the exhibition. In addition, the products introduced have shown definite correlations to current research, development, and application activity in the separation sciences.

In this month's coverage, I will describe new introductions in the areas of HPLC: reversed-phase, normal- and bonded-phase, ion-exchange and ion, size-exclusion, and large- and preparative-scale chromatography; specialty chromatography columns; and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Next month, I will look at gas chromatography (GC) columns, sample preparation products, and hardware, accessories and kits for chromatography, and sample preparation.

Trends and Highlights

General: This year, I observed that there was a continued trend in high-throughput techniques, especially in the HPLC and sample preparation areas. More devices and instrumentation that support automation made their appearance, and autosamplers with sample preparation functionality have been reappearing. Many application-specific columns for HPLC and GC and various devices for solid-phase extraction (SPE) and sample preparation were introduced. Again at Pittcon, a considerable number of new accessories, hardware, software, and devices were introduced that could make chromatographic laboratories more productive.

HPLC columns: At Pittcon 2009, reversed-phase HPLC maintained its dominance and over half of the introductions were the ever-popular C18 phase. Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) columns also were quite evident. Polymer-based HPLC columns are ever-increasing and now dominate the ion-exchange and size-exclusion modes. Mixed-mode columns have now established themselves as an alternative to single-phase columns. Mixed mechanisms give rise to subtle (and sometimes substantial) selectivity changes compared to regular alkyl phases. From an applications standpoint, chiral and protein–peptide columns dominated the introductions.

Gas chromatography: Ultra-inert GC columns are the latest differentiating feature in the marketplace. New porous layer open tubular (PLOT) column introductions show that the separation of small molecules and gases is still of interest. A selection of application-specific columns, especially for biodiesel and bioethanol separations and regulated methods, show that interest in specialty GC columns is still prevalent.

Sample preparation: A variety of formats in SPE were introduced: cartridges, pipette tips, and 96-well plates and some interesting new SPE application-specific phases for environmental and biological fluid samples. Combination products of protein precipitation and SPE were introduced to provide cleaner, phospholipid-free extracts of biofluids for LC with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS-MS) analysis. Additional QuEChERS kits made their appearance, for simple, low-cost sample preparation for the analysis of pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Some unique approaches to sample filtration are included.

Accessories: With the current shortage of acetonitrile, solvent recyclers could become an important accessory. Products to make method development simpler in HPLC were introduced including software, column selector, and a low-pressure solvent mixer. Some convenient GC accessories such as a new hydrogen generator, leak detector, semiautomated vial cap crimper, and low gas alarm system were seen at the show. Some useful semiautomated sample preparation devices like evaporators, digesters, mixers, concentrators, and aspirators take some of the drudgery out of sample preparation.

Autosamplers for GC and LC with sample preparation capabilities are making their appearance.