News
Chromatography Awards
Erwin sz. Kováts The M. S. Tswett Chromatography Medals were awarded to Erwin sz. Kovats, John Howard Purnell, and Alexander Abramowich Zhukhovitskii at the 12th International Symposium on Advances in Chromatography held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 7-10,1977. Erwin sz. Kovats, professor of chemistry at Ecole Polytechnique Fed6rale, Lausanne, Switzerland, is honored for the development of the retention index system for the gas chromatographic identification of individual compounds. He showed the correlation of this system with various chemical and physical characteristics of the substances and the possibility of using this system for the characterization of the polarity of stationary phases. Professor Kovats is a native of Budapest, Hungary. Soon after he was graduated from the Technical University Budapest in 1949, he moved to Switzerland and has been living there since. He is the author and coauthor of over 50 scientific publications. In 1969 he served as the chairman of the scientific committee organizing the Symposium on Column Chromatography held in Lausanne, October 7-10. John Howard Purnell, professor at University College, Swansea, Wales, UK, is cited for his studies on the thermodynamics of chromatography and the separation process. Professor Purnell's interests are divided between gas kinetics and chromatogra-
John H. Purnell
Alexander A.
Zhukhovitskii
phy. His involvement in gas chromatography began in 1955. He was one of the first physical chemists to recognize the analytical power of gas chromatography and the first to apply the technique to the study of gas-phase kinetics. His wide-ranging contributions include studies of the thermodynamics of retention and selectivity, understanding the separation in the column and the relationship of the efficiencies of various column types, and improvements in stationary phase systems and gas chromatographic instrumentation. Dr. Purnell is the author and coauthor of over 100 scientific papers. His book "Gas Chromatography" published in 1962 represents one of the most popular texts in the field.
Alexander Abramowich Zhukhovitskii, professor at Steel and Alloys Institute, Moscow, USSR, is cited for his lifelong work in chromatography, particularly for development of a number of novel approaches such as vacancy chromatography, chromatography without carrier gas, and differential chromatography. His research activities over almost half a century range from quantum chemistry, the theory of liquid and solid state, and the theory of solutions to surface phenomena. Dr. Zhukhovitskii is the author and coauthor of more than 300 scientific articles, five monographs and textbooks, and more than 50 certificates of inventions and patents in various fields of engineering.
Graduate Fellowships
summer, $1000 stipend. Last year three full-year and seven summer fellowships were awarded. Funds were provided by Perkin-Elmer Corp., Procter & Gamble, The Upjohn Co., Carle Instruments Inc., Olin Corp. Charitable Trust, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, and the Division of Analytical Chemistry. Application blanks and detailed information are available from T. R. Williams, Chairman, Fellowship Committee, c/o Dept. of Chemistry, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 44691. Final award announcements will be made in April.
The Fellowship Committee of the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry announces its Graduate Fellowship Program for 1978. These fellowships, awarded annually on a competitive basis, provide funds for graduate study and research in analytical chemistry at any accredited ACS institution of the appointee's choice (see page 2129). Research directors at these institutions must be members of the Analytical Chemistry Division. Two types of fellowships are available: full year, $5000 stipend, and
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 49, NO. 14, DECEMBER 1977 • 1223 A
News
Ajay Bose (left) and his coworker H. Fuiiwara are shown with the chemical ionization mass spectrometer manufactured by Scientific Research Instruments, Inc., of Baltimore, Md.
Positive and Negative CIMS for Biological Studies In the short span of a decade, chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) has become one of the most promising analytical tools for the study of natural products, drug metabolism, and some aspects of biomedical research. Ajay K. Bose of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J., is among many in the field currently investigating the application of this technique to biomedical studies. At the recent International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemists, held in Tokyo during the week of September 4-10,1977, Dr. Bose and his research associates presented a report on the negative and positive CIMS techniques as clinical diagnostic tools. The use of negative CIMS enables Dr. Bose and his colleagues to analyze blood plasma directly without the extensive purification and derivatization processes that are usually necessary. They have had particular success in monitoring changes in bile acid patterns. Bile acids are believed to be produced by the body to help digest food and to remove excess cholesterol. Because of these and other biological implications, bile acids are currently of great medical interest. Compounds containing chlorine are also analyzed by the negative CIMS method with very high sensitivity. Dr. Bose suggests use of the technique to search for products in the body derived from highly toxic polychlorinated compounds. One reagent gas extensively
used by the group is CF2C12 (Freon 12). Highly satisfactory chloride adduct mass spectra (M + Cl _ ) have been obtained for prostaglandins, oligopeptides, bile acid conjugates, oligosaccharides, etc. Of the various compounds reported to be suitable as the reagent gas for positive CIMS, Dr. Bose and his research associates have found ammonia to be most convenient for the study of compounds such as steroid hormones, bile acids, prostaglandins, phospholipids, penicillin and related antibiotics, oligopeptides, alkaloids, and glycosides. In most cases, an intense pseudomolecular ion corresponding to (M + NHJ) or (M + 18) is observed. As the source of ammonia in the reagent gas, they have used 15 NH 4 C1 in the direct probe to distinguish between NHJ and H 2 0 and to establish whether an ion is truly an ammonia adduct ion. Through combined use of negative and positive CIMS, it is possible, starting with a single drop of blood, to obtain a very detailed picture of the individual components present in less than an hour.
Easy Access to Air Pollution Literature Pertinent articles about almost any subject can be readily found through computerized searches of a large number of bibliographic files of the literature. These files are searched by use of computer terminals connected online to massive storage and retrieval systems. The terminals located in many libraries and other facilities are in instant communication with the bibliographic files through services made available by Lockheed Information Systems, System Development Corp., and Bibliographic Retrieval Services, Inc. (addresses below). The files consist of indexed literature citations, many with abstracts. Among the files on-line with Lockheed is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) APTIC file of more than 80 000 air pollution citations. (APTIC is an acronym for the former Air Pollution Technical Information Center.) In addition to access through the commercial sources, EPA provides free literature searches on air pollution to the following category of requesters: state and local air pollution control, transportation, and planning agencies; environmental citizens groups; national government agencies of other countries; along with requesters holding verified EPA contracts or grants for air pollution control work.
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Requests on letterhead stationery are honored. Qualified organizations should apply to EPA Library (MD35), Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711 (919-541-2794 or 629-2779, Federal Telephone System). Below are the service company names and addresses: Lockheed Information Systems 3251 Hanover Street Palo Alto, Calif. 94303 800-227-1960 (toll free) System Development Corp. 2500 Colorado Ave. Santa Monica, Calif. 90406 800-421-7229 (toll free) Bibliographic Retrieval Services 1462 Erie Blvd. Schenectady, N.Y. 12305 518-374-5011
Small Business Receives NSF Innovation Awards The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a total of 42 awards totaling $1 028 000 to small business firms under the program, Small Business Innovation Applied to National Needs. The program is designed to utilize the unique innovative capabilities of small firms to bring new research approaches to important problems in the areas of resources, the environment, and productivity. Projects awarded cover many topics, including hydrometallurgy used in solution mining, chemical threats to man and the environment, earthquake engineering, and ways to improve the Nation's productivity. Phase I awards (a two-phase program) are designed for feasibility research efforts and range from $17 500 to $25 000. Those projects showing most promise after the feasibility study may be funded for the principal research efforts in Phase II. For Phase I, 42 awardees were chosen from 329 proposals submitted by companies having 1-195 employees. Among the awardees are several firms receiving awards for their work in the topical areas of interest to analytical chemists: F e i n - M a r q u a r t Association, Inc., Baltimore, Md. ($24 874), for "Approaches for the Acquisition of Mass Spectral Data for Inclusion in the NIH/EPA Mass Spectral Data Base" International Diagnostic Technology, Santa Clara, Calif. ($25 000), for "Improved Methods for the Rapid Detection of Microbial Contaminants" Ionomet Co., Waban, Mass. ($25 000), for "Mass Spectrometry Photoplate for Environmental Trace Element Research"
News
Required Reading from Waters ^ the Liquid Chromatography People
New! Analysis of Pharmaceutical Products
The use of infrared spectrophotometers interfaced with a high-speed laboratory computer system enables researchers at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., to examine the conformational structures of both simple and complex organic molecules. The heart of the instrument system is the computer, which has revolutionized the way in which spectrometric data are analyzed. For instance, the computer assists the conformational experiments by expanding weak signals automatically. And in the subtraction spectrometry the computer instantaneously subtracts spectral bands of one sample from those of another. In the photo a Perkin-Elmer infrared spectrophotometer linked with a Perkin-Elmer Interdata 6/16 computer system is demonstrated by graduate student James Holtzclaw
Describes rapid, economical assay & quantitation methods for many drug products. LC separations of cough preparations, antibiotics, vitamins, and tranquilizers are detailed as well as various specialized LC techniques. CIRCLE 230 O N READER SERVICE CARD Pared-lon ChfOmato^.^hy
New!
An Ancnjtive to km t i
Paired-Ion Chromatography IRT Corp., San Diego, Calif. ($24 854), for "Immunochemical Assay for Asbestos in the Environment" Moleculon Research Corp., Cambridge, Mass. ($24 805), for "Reactive Tapes for Automatic Environmental Analysis"
Science Faculty Professional Development Program The National Science Foundation invites applications for the Science Faculty Professional Development Program grants. The program is designed to help experienced, full-time, two- and four-year college and university science teachers involved primarily in undergraduate science instruction improve their teaching ability to better prepare students for current employment requirements. In implementing this aim, grants will be awarded to U.S. science teachers to pursue research or study at academic or industrial laboratories. Approximately 130 grants will be made in 1978, and the awards will be announced by mid-April. An applicant must clearly state the specific gains anticipated and the contributions the applicant hopes to make toward the
objectives of the program. Awards are made for study or work in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineering, and social sciences, and the history and philosophy of science. Interdisciplinary work is also encouraged. Interested persons should contact Science Faculty Professional Development Program, Division of Scientific Personnel Improvement, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. 20550. The closing date for submission of applications is December 16, 1977.
The technique of Paired-Ion Chromatography, an alternative to ion exchange is d e s c r i b e d . PIC™ allows s i m u l t a n e o u s analysis of acids, bases, and neutral compounds. CIRCLE 231 O N READER SERVICE CARD
New!
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Detectors Brochure
Call for Papers 20th Annual Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry Denver, Colo. August 7-9,1978. The conference is sponsored jointly by the Rocky Mountain Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and the Rocky Mountain Chromatography Discussion Group. Papers in all fields of analytical chemistry are invited. Submit abstracts of not more than 200 words by April 15,1978, to Daniel A. Netzel, Conference Chairman, Laramie Energy Research Center, Box 3395, University Station, Laramie, Wyo. 82071 (307-721-2370).
Chronvilogr Aptly Detection Systems lien s,-.t.mv.
Discusses choosing a' LC detection system for specific applications. The merits of Model 440 UV/Visible Absorbance Detect o r and 400 Series Differential Refractometers are cited. CIRCLE 232 O N READER SERVICE CARD
free from WATERS #
ASSOCIATES
215 M a p l e S t r e e t , M i l f o r d , M A 01757 T e l e p h o n e (617) 478-2000
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 49, NO. 14, DECEMBER 1977 • 1225 A
