Malvern has announced it will be hosting a webinar discussing gel permeation chromatography (GPC), which is also known as size exclusion chromatography (SEC).

It will be taking place on 6 December from 10:30 until 11:30 (GMT-05:00) Easten [US and Canada).

SEC is a popular analytical tool for characterising natural and synthetic polymers. Advanced GPC/SEC analysis using multi-detectors is increasingly being used to measure absolute molecular weight independent of column retention volume and to add other measurements such as those of intrinsic viscosity and hydrodynamic radius.

With this information, scientists can accurately study how changes in molecular weight and structure affect polymer performance.

Advances in detector technology have enabled more accurate and information-rich measurements. However, the quality of those measurements is still dependent on the quality of the separation, which itself remains dependent on the column.

Good resolution depends on matching the column pore size to the sample of interest and an ideal separation requires no interaction between the sample and the column material.

In addition, to maximise light scattering signal-to-noise, columns should be stable over time and not shed any particulates.

From the detector standpoint, inter-detector distances should be reduced to minimise peak dispersion. Malvern’s webinar will discuss how high-quality columns and detectors both contribute to high quality GPC/SEC measurements. The company will also discuss how the two interact with each other and show data to demonstrate some ideal measurements, as well as show some of the symptoms of poor measurements, while discussing possible causes.

Speakers

The first speaker Mark Pothecary studied biochemistry while an undergraduate at the University of Bath before moving to London to obtain his Masters and PhD between 2002 and 2006. He studied the biochemical effects of red wine polyphenols on the production of nitric oxide in blood vessels and the subsequent control of blood pressure. Following this, he continued for another year using chromatography to study the uptake of these same compounds into the blood.

Mark joined Malvern in 2008 as a product technical specialist for the Zetasizer Nano and Viscotek products concentrating on bioscience SEC applications. In 2010, he took the role of Product Manager for Zetasizer and Viscotek products, where he acts as the Voice of the Customer for new products and on quality issues.

The second speaker Leah Block was born in Marlboro and is currently the technical manager at Shodex, Showa Denko America. This company is a 100% subsidiary of Showa Denko and holds headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

As part of Shodex, Leah provides sales and technical services for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) columns produced by the Showa Denko Group. Leah was previously the first ACS non-governmental representative to attend the United Nations 16th Conference of Parties (COP-16) in Cancun, Mexico. She later graduated with a PhD at the University of Alabama. During her graduate career, she focused on the dissolution and manipulations of biopolymers to create multiple supports for transdermal drug delivery. During this research she became well versed with size exclusion techniques.

Who should attend the webinar?

The webinar would be useful for GPC/SEC users looking to take their measurements to the next level or looking to understand how their measurement quality can be improved. In addition, anyone looking to push the performance of their GPC/SEC system will find interest in the event.

Why attend?

Viewers will learn about GPC/SEC and understand how the best measurements require powerful detectors and a good separation through the columns. They will learn about some of the symptoms of a non-ideal setup and how to improve it, as well as receiving tips as to how to improve their own GPC/SEC measurement by addressing any problems it may have.