While participating at the National Association of Scientific Materials Managers Conference in Norfolk, we had some great questions come up - we wanted to take a moment to address the general questions here (some of the more specific questions we'll be addressing in e-mails).
Q: We're trying to offer our students multiple chances to run thin
layer chromatography experiments, but we want to control costs, what can you recommend?
A: We would recommend trying our scored glass-backed plates. As you can see in the photo here, a 20 x 20 cm plate can be easily snapped into smaller (2.5 x 10 cm) sizes.
Q: Why did you decide to color your HPLC Columns?
A: Excellent question! In addition to the fact that we use an advanced packing material that provides close to 100% coverage inside the columns, we realized that traditional columns can be easily mixed up if their labels come off. By color-coding the columns, you always know what material you have inside the column.
Q: We LOVE the video you did and we want to share it with friends, family, and colleagues - where is it available online?
A: We're proud of our video, "The Adventures of Ana L'Tech" - it's been featured on numerous web sites and blogs, and has even been inducted into the Viral Marketing Hall of Fame.
Click Here for the official video web site, Click Here for the YouTube version, or just watch it right here:
We get several great questions whenever we go out to trade shows - we figured now would be a good time to post some of those questions and our answers:
Q: Have you really been manufacturing Thin Layer Chromatography plates and equipment longer than anyone else in the world?
A: Yes, we've been doing this since 1961 - next year we celebrate 50 years of supplying the world with high-quality Chromatography products.
Q: What's so special about your Chromatography supplies?
A: Glad you asked! We offer the following:
- Glass-Backed, Pre-Scored plates
- Aluminum-backed layers
- Plastic-Backed layers
- Florescent Indicators
- Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) SPICE Cartridges
- Bulk Absorbents
- HPLC columns
Q: We noticed that you have very colorful HPLC Columns, is there anything else we should know about them?color HPLC columns
A: Yes, besides the practical aspect of knowing which packing
material you have inside a column based on the color outside, our HPLC columns utilize proprietary bonding technologies from Separation Methods Technologies that result in bonded phase coverage approaching 100%.
Q: Tell us more about the Cyclograph - can it really separate up to 4 grams of sample in 20 minutes? and can we see a demonstration of how it works?
A: Excellent question! The CycloGraph system is a centrifugally accelerated device for performing preparative thin layer radial separations. The separations occur quickly (normally within 20 minutes) with no need for scraping separated bands as with traditional Thin Layer Chromatography. Here's a video demonstration, and you can click here for more information.
Q: Can we order your products direct or can we go through a distributor?
A: Yes, you can order directly from us or you can work with any of our distributors (we work with several - all around the world) - click here for more information.
One of the great things about the Eastern Analytical Symposium is the number of high school and college students who are bro
ught here to learn more about analytical chemistry.
Our General Manager, Steven Miles, is an excellent teacher and enjoys engaging students with examples of chromatography from the basics of Thin Layer Chromatography to the latest advances in HPLC.
We are having a great time at the Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS) in Somerset, New Jersey.
We've met with doctors, distributors, students, lab managers, professors, and many more who want to see what we can do in the field of chromatography.
EAS holds a special place for us, it was at last year's show when Micky got the idea to add color to our HPLC columns, making them not only memorable, but much more practical - it's so much easier to tell what's on the inside of the column when the outside is color-coded.
If you are attending EAS, please stop by Booth #524, and whether you can make it or not, be sure to check out the live updates from our Twitter Feed @iChromatography.
Every year at this time, we look forward to attending EAS - 
the Eastern Analytical Symposium & Exposition in Somerset, New Jersey.
If you're attending EAS this year, please stop by Booth #524 and say "Hi" (oh yea, and check out our color HPLC columns).
Click Here for more information about EAS.
Click Here to see more from our visit last year.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information has 
posted a paper on the advantages of using HPLC for identifying mycobacteria.
Here's an excerpt:
It was established that results of HLPC use were highly correlated with results of microbiologic methods of mycobacteria identification: for identification of M. tuberculosis complex the correlation was 97.0%, for nontuberculous (NTM) slowly growing mycobacteria--95.3%, for quickly growing NTM--96.2% (overall--96.1%). Results of identification of mycobacteria by HPLC were ready in significantly shorter time-frame (during 24 hours).
Click Here for more.
Next Tuesday, we're heading to Boise, Idaho for the 36th 
Annual NAOSMM Conference.
The National Association of Scientific Materials Managers (NAOSMM for short and pronounced Nay-O-Sum) is:
- A group of approximately 500 individuals involved in purchasing, receiving, warehousing, distribution, and inventory control of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, glassware and plasticware, instruments and special services in research, teaching, and R & D fields.
- We work in academia, industry or research.
- We hold positions such as storeroom managers, laboratory managers, teaching lab coordinators, purchasing or procurement personnel, and business managers.
Members include representatives from universities, colleges, manufacturers, research laboratories, and pharmaceutical companies. We all have one thing in common: we have unique questions for which we seek workable answers. NAOSMM allows us to exchange ideas, information, contacts, and leads with people who understand our challenges and can offer solutions.
We're looking forward to seeing all of our current friends and making some new ones while we're in Boise - if you're going to the NAOSMM conference, please stop by to see our new color HPLC Columns.
Click Here to find out more about NAOSMM
Click Here to see highlights from last year's NAOSMM Conference in San Antonio, TX
The U.S. Pharmacopieal (USP) Convention has just released a first-of-its kind collection of standards designed to assist dietary supplements manufacturers in providing quality products to consumers.
The USP Dietary Supplements Compendium (DSC) is a comprehensive resource containing quality specifications (identity, strength, purity, and performance characteristics) of more than 500 dietary supplements and ingredients. In addition to these standards, the DSC includes general and regulatory information, guidance documents, appendices, and macro/microscopy, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) full-color images that greatly simplify the analysis of ingredients of botanical origin—making it a central repository of necessary information for dietary supplements manufacturers.
The DSC serves as a tool for manufactures in:
- Developing, manufacturing and testing new products;
- Qualifying raw materials;
- Preparing for international quality control and cGMP audits;
- Setting and validating standard operating procedures;
- Collecting in-process and batch-release tests; and
- Accurately packaging, labeling and storing products.
Click Here for more information from USP.
We first mentioned this discovery here a couple of weeks ago, and just wanted to offer a few more details now that the paper by Skirmantas Kriaucionis and Nathaniel Heintz has been published.
Despite the importance of epigenetic regulation in neurological disorders, little is known about neuronal chromatin. Cerebellar Purkinje neurons have large and euchromatic nuclei, whereas granule cell nuclei are small and have a more typical heterochromatin distribution. While comparing the abundance of 5-methylcytosine in Purkinje and granule cell nuclei, we detected the presence of an unusual DNA nucleotide. Using thin-layer chromatography, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry, we identified the nucleotide as 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxycytidine (hmdC). hmdC constitutes 0.6% of total nucleotides in Purkinje cells, 0.2% in granule cells, and is not present in cancer cell lines. hmdC is a constituent of nuclear DNA that is highly abundant in the brain, suggesting a role in epigenetic control of neuronal function.
Click here to read more from Science.
We have just sold our first COLOR HPLC Column!
Yes, that's right - it's an Orange Ion Exchange DEAE-Column 5 um particle size, 100Å pore size, 150 mm long with a 4.6 mm Inner Diameter.
The new COLOR HPLC Columns are being offered with a wide variety of sizes and packings, from C8 and C18 silica to methyl, ethyl, butyl, phenyl, and triacontyl.
Think about it - no more standing around with a bunch of columns that look exactly alike wondering, "which one of these is the C18 and which one is the C8?"
To check out all of those varieties and colors, click here.