Prepacked Columns
Editors' Column
HPLCHigh Performance at Low Cost
Analytical Instrumentation The analytical instrument picture is muddied by contrasting trends. On the one hand, costs are rising in our highly inflationary economy, so that one major instrument company, Beckman, announced in October price increases averaging up to 10% on lab analytical instruments and some industrial process instrumentation to cover increased material and labor costs. On the other hand, the costs of electronic components have been reduced. Progress in microprocessors and in largescale integrated circuitry has permitted instruments to be tailor designed for their purpose at reduced costs. Examples are Spectra-Physics' Minigrator, a chromatographic digital integrator/calculator, and the Olfax 7000 microprocessor/mass spectrometer combination for drug identification available from Universal Monitor Corp. (page 1274 A). However, most really new instruments entering the commercial market have been highly expensive systems such as the ion microprobe, high field NMR, and ESCA research instruments. These instruments may be so expensive that their use by individual institutions is difficult to justify. Thus, NSF has granted funds to Cornell University to purchase a quartermillion dollar ion microprobe to study chemical compositions of solids and chemical reactions on solid surfaces. This instrument will serve not only the various departments at Cornell (with George Morrison as principal investigator), but will be available for use by researchers from other colleges, from government installations, and from industry, as well. A share-the-equipment plan now in its third year in the Cleveland area began as an experiment funded by NSF to see if universities and industries could work as partners in a research arrangement, rather than having one group buying services from another. The Major Analytical Instruments Facility on Case Western Reserve University campus was established in cooperation with Cleveland State University, Kent State University, and seven industrial research labs in northern Ohio. Since its founding, the University of Akron has joined the academic sponsors, and the number of industrial members has increased.
The general consensus is that the experiment is a success. The equipment is used virtually around the clock according to Gheorghe Mateescu, director of the facility. Three days the instruments are used by industry and four days by academic scientists. Instruments provided include a Fourier transform NMR spectrometer (Varian XL 100), a Fourier H60, and an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (Varian VIEE 100). Each of these instruments has its own dedicated computer. Choice of equipment is made on the basis of its need by researchers, plus the fact that it should cost $100,000 or more to make sharing attractive to all the users. Plans call for the acquisition of a scanning Auger microscope and more ESCA equipment. Industrial and academic sponsors contribute equally to the support of the facility. Industrial sponsors contribute between $10,000 and $20,000 per year which entitles them to a specified amount of time with the instruments and staff assistance. Most of the academic users' share of costs have been met by NSF, the Cleveland Foundation, and Case Reserve. After the first three years, academic scientists are expected to cover their share of maintenance costs from their own individual research grants. We applaud this efficient use of expensive instrumentation and feel that the major feature of sharing should be broadened to cover not only research instruments, but some of the very expensive instrument systems that have proven particularly useful in some real-life problem areas. It is readily apparent that the GC/MS/computer combination at MIT used for drug identification, that has received national TV exposure in an IBM commercial, is an expensive operation. The facility shown serves a wide area around Boston. We believe these systems should be located in many population centers and in other central locations so that the benefits can reach most of our people. Another example is the neutron activation analysis systems that are especially useful in forensic science. Josephine
Petruzzi
A new concept i n h i g h perf o r m a n c e l i q u i d chromatography. The resolution and technic a l c a p a b i l i t i e s of H P L C w i t h o u t n e e d for e x p e n s i v e instrumentation. • M a y be u s e d u n d e r hydrostatic p r e s s u r e or w i t h a mechanical pump. • C o l u m n s c a n be c o m b i n e d i n p a r a l l e l or s e r i e s arrangement. • D e s i g n e d for m u l t i p l e usage. • Simple • Reliable • Economical
E M Laboratories, Inc. iissocinu- of E. M e r c k , D a r m s t a d t , G e r m a n y
500 E x e c u t i v e B o u l e v a r d Elmsford, N e w York 10523 P h o n e 914/592-4660 CIRCLE 0 5 O N READER SERVICE CARD
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 46, NO. 14, DECEMBER 1974 · 1255 A
