NEWS
Gas Chromatography Growing Phenomenally Edinburgh Symposium Reflects Rapid Strides in Theory, Apparatus, and Applications
This special report on the Third Gas Chromatography Symposium, held in Edinburgh, was prepared by Warren W. Brandt. Dr. Brandt, professor of chemistry, Purdue University, has been interested in this topic for many years and is an active research worker in the field. He is active in the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry and was chairman of the Division last year.
E ternational audience gathered here DINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
A large
in-
June 8 to 10 to take part in the Third Gas Chromatography Symposium. Cosponsoring the three-day meeting were the Society for Analytical Chemistry and the Gas Chromatography Discussion Group of the Institute of Petroleum's Hydrocarbon Research Group. The symposium attracted 560 registrants, 160 of whom were from outside England and Scotland; 32 were registered from the United States. Interestingly, half of those from the U. S. represented equipment manufacturers and suppliers; one fourth were from medical research laboratories and universities; only seven represented the U. S. chemical industry. Phenomenal growth of the field prompted manj1 to recall the time when it was possible to be familiar with every publication on gas chromatography— a time long since past. General opinion was that the major developments have been accomplished and that current reports represent important improvements and expansions. The previous pattern for these symposia was followed, devoting roughly a day each to theory, apparatus, and applications. Each author was allowed 10 minutes to summarize the main conclusions of his preprinted paper. The next 20 minutes were devoted to discussion plus "prepared" presentations of related work from the floor. Result of the keynote lecture each day, the 29 papers, the approximately 50 shorter presentations of results plus a good amount of discussion, was a broad, detailed survey of current research in the field. It couldn't help but be of considerable value to active workers in the field. A. T. James, currently head of the Gas Chromatography Discussion 56 A
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Group, opened the program by briefly noting some of the main directions of current research: more speed, more theoretical plates, capillary columns, and high sensitivity detectors. A brief account of the active Gas Chromatography Working Group in East Germany, which had been prepared by R. Kaiser, was read by a current member of the group. Their Second Symposium will be held in May 1961. Apparatus and Technique In the introductory lecture to the first, day's session on apparatus and technique, R. P. W. Scott highlighted existing differences of opinion among various workers and the need for more research. For illustration he mentioned the high sensitivity detectors, packed vs. capillary columns, and quantitative accuracy. With the stage thus set, the first half day was devoted to flame and argon ionization detectors. The fantastic push by users of gas chromatography to apply these detectors has created a situation in which many people are working with these units before those developing them have had time to find out what makes them work and more importantly what is wrong when they do not work. This inverted situation had created such a rash of claims and counter claims among users that research reports scheduled were anxiously awaited. Argon Detectors. There were several excellent reports presented, covering many aspects of both detectors, with a considerable increase in the general appreciation of their advantages and limitations. It was apparent to all that both detectors belong in the list of high sensitivity detectors available to gas chromatographers. J. E.
Lovelock, in reviewing the mechanism of argon detectors, pointed out the extreme importance of design factors to linearity and ionization efficiency. He discussed three different modifications: "simple," "small," and "triode." The improved simple detector requires a large external linearizing resistor, while the other two utilize internal space charge to accomplish the same result. The new triode detector introduces a ring electrode into the chamber of the small detector coaxial with the anode. The ring collects the positive ions formed in the collision step, lowering the background and pro\"iding the most sensitive (2 X 1CH4 gram per second) and most linear (from noise level of
