A Brief Report on the European Pesticide Residue Workshop in Strasbourg, France

By Laszlo Torma
The 8th European Pesticide Residue Workshop (EPRW 2010) was held in Strasbourg, FR on June 20-24, 2010. As usual, EPRW 2010 was a great success and it was a productive and worthwhile meeting.

First, I would like to share a little information about Strasbourg. The city is the capital of region which was part of the Holy Roman Empire and later annexed by France. In more recent history, Alsace changed hands four times between France and Germany in 75 years. Although the historical language of Alsace is Alsatian, a Germanic language, today most Alsatians speak French and only about 40% of the adult population is fluent in Alsatians. Strasbourg is the seat of several European Institution such as the European Parliament, the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights) and others.

Back to the meeting; EPRW meets every 2 years and in my opinion, it gets better and larger each time. In spite of the global economic down turn, there were about 500 participant and 30 exhibitors representing all the continents. The Scientific Organizing Committee has assembled a great program, including 29 oral presentations, more than 200 posters and a number of vendor sessions. Scientists from all over the world were represented and participated in various discussions to exchange new ideas in the area of pesticide regulations, residue monitoring, new analytical techniques and methodology. I enjoyed the high quality posters that have been presented. These posters demonstrated the desire of many scientists to share their practical and fundamental know how with the participant during the workshop. And last but certainly not least, I had the opportunity to work with our European distributor, LCTech from Germany and to visit with our mutual customers.

Pickering Laboratories rolls out up-grade to Pinnacle PCX: New Sigma Series, by Mike Gottschalk

The Pinnacle PCX Delta Series post-column derivatization instrument was first introduced in January 2005 to replace the PCX 5200 instrument. The Pinnacle PCX introduction brought new technologies to post-column systems including programmable temperature gradient column oven, inert flow path, reactor coil cartridge switching system, computer controlled software among others.

With the inclusion of the column temperature gradient feature, our amino acid analysis time for hydrolysates was reduced by half from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. In addition to improved analysis speed the ability to change reactor volumes easily made the Pinnacle PCX ideal for method development and application switching.

The development team at Pickering has been working behind the scenes to improve and expand the advantages of the Pinnacle PCX. Now with the confluence of several new features and improvements a complete series up-grade is occurring to the Sigma Series.

Notable improvement highlights:

• Fully ROHS compliant – the European Union directive to eliminate toxic compounds in electronic equipment.
• Power cooling – additional fans and air ducts have been developed to speed airflow in the column oven for faster cooling.
• USB connection to PC – in addition to the Ethernet and relay connections USB has been added.
• Pinnacle PCX Software version 1.0.0.7 includes 4 day log files for over the weekend log files, timer algorithm that runs independent of the system clock in the PC.
• PEEK Front end on the pumps to prevent corrosion.
• Injected composite parts – Column oven door and instrument base are 50 % lighter – saving on shipping costs.

Best of all the work flow of all methods are unaffected and migration of existing methods to the new Sigma series is seamless.

Pickering continually improves the components and manufacturability of all our products to provide the best analytical tools in the industry.

International Connections, by Laszlo Torma

The “Pickering Brand” is well known all over the world. Thanks to our customers and our dedicated distributers, Pickering Laboratories instruments and methods are utilized in more and more countries. In order for us to offer better service and communication we have been expanding our participation at international meetings.

Pickering Laboratories is regularly represented at the Latin American Pesticide Residue Workshop (LAPRW). The first LAPRW was held in Brazil (2007) and Wendy Rasmussen and I were representing our company. We worked with Roberto de Souza Cruz of Cromatec. The second LAPRW (2009) was in Argentina and David Mazawa and I were representing Pickering Laboratories. We visited our distributer Victorio Bogunovich of Analytical Technologies. We had great cooperation from Analytical Technologies; sharing booth space during the meeting and were able to visit their facility. In Argentina the level of interest and knowledge of participants was much better than the first workshop. At both meetings we had the pleasure to meet lots of interesting people. In Latin America, like other parts of the world many Laboratories are struggling to purchase high performance and high cost instruments. In Argentina during a general discussion, many people expressed their anger about the very high cost of instruments like LC/MS/MS and requested reliable methods with affordable instruments. Latin American countries are using large amounts of glyphosate and are interested in reliable analytical methods in crop and environmental samples. It seems to me that glyphosate is an emotional and political issue in Argentina. The next LAPRW meeting is in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2011.

In 2009, David Mazawa attended BCEIA, China’s largest conference on analytical instruments. David worked with our distributer Ameritech and enjoyed meeting potential customers and as well as their hospitality. You can read more about this trip in our January 2010 Newsletter.

Recently Wendy Rasmussen and David Mazawa represented Pickering Laboratories at Analytica in Germany. Analytica is similar to PITTCON but they meet every second year and it has become larger than PITTCON in recent years. Wendy and David were assisting our distributer and business partner LCTech GmbH during the show. They also received training on LCTech’s new products that we are marketing in the USA.

Wendy, David, and the LCTech team at Analytica

In April, Wendy and I attended the Western Canada Trace Organic Workshop in Vancouver, Canada. We are presented 2 posters; and Wendy gave a presentation on “Sample Clean-Up with Immunoaffinity columns and Gel Permeation Chromatogphy”. We had a great time and we especially were glad to meet with our distributor, Chromatographic Specialties as well as some current and (hopefully!) future customers. Chromatographic Specialties have a great product range and offer wonderful support all accross Canada.

In June, I will attend the European Pesticide Residue Workshop (EPRW2010) in France. This will be my fourth EPRW meeting. EPRW meets every two years alternating with LAPRW. I will work with our distributor LCTech and visit with our customers. Scientists and pesticide regulators from all over the world will attend this meeting because it is considered by many to be the best pesticide residue workshop. In addition to the Europeans, the attendees are from Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. This meeting allows me an opportunity to visit with laboratory personnel with different scientific backgrounds, from different parts of the world.

And last but not least, we are regularly participating as exhibiters and presenters at PITTCON and AOAC International. Even though these meetings are in the USA there are lots of foreign scientists attending and this gives us additional opportunity to cultivate our relationship with them.

Ion Pair

We have two new additions to our Pickering Family, Oso and Valentino, our new unofficial company mascots.

The "Ion Pair" born Feb 14, 2010:

Gloria Garcia, the Executive Assistant to the Vice President, Operations here at Pickering adopted these two MaltiPoo (part Maltese, part Poodle) puppies last month and brought them into our office.

"Oso" is Spanish for "bear", because he was the largest of the litter and looks a little bit like a little bear.

"Valentino" is named for the day on which they were born: Valentine's Day.

New! GARD: Column Protection System

A new Column protection system for Cation-exchange HPLC applications will be unveiled exclusively at Pittcon this year.

The new GARD™ manufactured by Pickering Laboratories is a substantial improvement over the standard packed guards. The new GARD™ adds little pressure, is invisible to the chromatography, and has substantially more capacity for strongly retained compounds that can foul the analytical column.

The new GARD Column Protection System significantly prolongs column life without band spreading or added pressure. We will have a poster at Pittcon demonstrating, by means of a performance comparison for Amino Acid Analysis, that the use of a GARD will protect the analytical column more effectively than traditional guard cartridges, is more cost-effective for the laboratory, is easy to change, and most importantly has zero band spreading.

New Product Lines from Pickering, October 2009

Mycotoxin product line
We are now distributing Mycotoxin Immunoaffinity products for Ochratoxin and Aflatoxin. The performance and batch-to-batch reproducibility of the columns is exceptional and far exceeds that of other manufacturers. The columns can be used for any matrix, from wine and juice, to nuts and grains, to herbs and spices. Contact Sales for more information.

GPC Sample Clean up line
We have a new GPC Sample Clean-up product line! We have both automated and manual GPC cleanup systems and we also have systems that include concentration & solvent exchange, or just GPC. Sample cleanup using GPC is especially useful for fatty matrices, but also perfect for vegetable matter and spices, as well as soil & waste water.

New faster AAA columns
We now have a Lithium amino acid run which will separate 45 amino acids in 70 minutes for Physiologic fluids, an a new 30-min Sodium amino acid run which will separate the 20 amino acids commonly found in protein hydrolysate samples. These columns are for use with our Pinnacle PCX.

Histamine Product Line
Our newly launched Histamine product line consists of Dip-sticks and Elisa kits as well as Post-column derivatization for fast and in-situ testing as well as quick, reproducible, and sensitive methods for follow-up confirmation. Contact Pickering Laboratories at 1-800-654-3330 or sales@pickeringlabs.com for more information!

Ask Technical Support! October 2009

By David Mazawa, Technical Support Chemist

Parts Lookup for Pickering Instruments Now on the Internet:

Looking for a part number? Try out our new Parts Lookup for the Pinnacle, Vector, and 5200 models. It can be found on our website http://www.pickeringlabs.com/

Click on "Service and Support" tab and then choose the Parts Lookup from the pull-down menu. Just choose the model of your instrument, then click on the parts of interest and the part number will be displayed.

You can also use the following link: http://www.pickeringlabs.com/partslookup/default.asp

Make sure your web browser can support Flash applications before selecting your instrument. Place your mouse over the part you are looking for and the part number will be displayed. The Parts Lookup was designed to provide part numbers of commonly replaced parts. If what you are looking for is not available on the Parts Lookup, call Technical Support at (800) 654-3330 or (650) 694-6700 or email support@pickeringlabs.com.

Soap Opera

by Michael Pickering

In the process of washing laundry the cleaning agent is the water, the “universal solvent.” The surfactant (soap/detergent) facilitates the removal of strongly adsorbed and hydrophobic soil from the clothes. Foam, however, is a contaminant. Suds stabilizers added to the surfactant create persistent foam. Unfortunately, most consumers believe foaming to be evidence of a good surfactant; that it is desirable. The truth is quite the opposite. Foam residues are difficult to remove. Notice, after all, that the foam is excluded from the solution/emulsion phase: it floats. Thus the rinse cycle is inadequate to the task of removing it. It is the residue of these suds stabilizers on laundered swim suits that necessitate the frequent exchanging of spa water. Contaminated hot tubs, when set to the ‘jets’ cycle, quickly build up foam on the surface of the water. The foam becomes thicker and more persistent with each subsequent use. Eliminating the use of swim suits, or rinsing the suits with water alone, will greatly increase the life of your spa water.

Community Corner, October 2009

This section is devoted to our customers: for sharing customer experiences and feedback, up-coming changes in products, upcoming surveys, etc. This is also our Chromatography Quiz section, where each issue will contain a new chromatogram and a question associated with it. Each winner will receive a prize, and will be listed in the next issue.
We encourage all of our customers to submit stories, feedback, experiences, and we’ll pick one or two to share with the community.

Upcoming Events

Customer Satisfaction Survey – keep an eye out for a survey coming by email in late November. It will be a short questionnaire designed to gauge our customer satisfaction and how we can improve.

Chromatography Quiz
Chromatography Quiz No. 1: Carbamate Analysis for US EPA 531.1

Special Note: This is the first Quiz included with our newsletter. For each issue, we’ll choose a chromatogram from a different application or industry. So if Carbamates don’t apply to your lab this round, stay tuned! The quizzes and newsletter will be published Quarterly

To Win:

Simply email your answer and your full contact information by December 1st to: Rebecca at rlsmith@pickeringlabs.com

The troubleshooting answer and winner congratulations will be published in the next issue.

Identify the error made when running the Carbamate chromatogram below and win a prize!

Pickering Standard: 1700-0063 Carbamate Test Mix, 2.5 µg/mL, inject 10 µL

Pickering Column: 1846150 Carbamate Column, C18, 4.6 x 150 mm

Normal Operating Conditions (for reference only, condition changes may be reflected in chromatogram):

Column Temperature: 42 °CFlow rate: 1 mL/min
Eluent Gradient:

TIME.......WATER......MeOH %
0.................85.............15
0.5..............85.............15
28.5............30.............70
28.6..............0.............100
33.5..............0.............100
33.6.............85............15
41.................85............15

Post-column conditions for pesticide analysis:
Reagent 1: Hydrolysis reagent CB130
Reagent 2: 100 mg of OPA, 2 g Thiofluor™ in 950 mL of CB910
Reactor 1: 100 °C, 0.5 mL
Reactor 2: ambient. 0.1 mL
Reagent flow rates: 0.3 mL/minDetection: Fluorometer ex 330 nm, em 465 nm