Don Shelly to speak on Food and Environmental issues

UCT's Food and Environmental specialist, Don Shelly, will be presenting at the Orange County Water District (OCWD) workshop in Fountain Valley, California on February 8, 2012. Topics will include The Chemistry behind Solid Phase Extraction with an emphasis on current drinking water methods and Enviro-Clean: Products Designed to Save You Time and Reduce Costs. Please contact Don at ext. 219 or Bill Leavitt at ext. 184 for more details.

UCT Specialties adhesives and coatings

If you’re having trouble getting your adhesive or coating to stick to a difficult substrate, then UCT Specialties has the solution to your problem. We manufacture an extensive line of high quality organosilanes for use as adhesion promoters/coupling agents for a wide variety of substrates including glass, ceramics, precious metals and both thermoplastic and thermoset materials. Organosilanes are also used to modify a substrates critical surface tension to improve wettability or to create hydrophobic or hydrophilic surfaces. Please see our ad in the 2012 ASI Buyers’ Guide and visit us at booth # 307 at the ASC EXPO this April in Denver, Colorado.

Phenazepam and UCT CSDAU206

In recent months Phenazepam, a drug originally precribed for the Russian market, has become very popular for off-label uses in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. Phenazepam is prescribed for the reduction of anxiety but has now been found in blood and urine samples of drivers stopped by enforcement agencies in traffic cases in these countries. In the most recent issue of LC-GC magazine (December 2011), a validated method for the analysis of Phenazepam in whole blood has been published. UCT scientist Dr. Jeff Hackett, working with analysts at the Massachussets State Police Crime Laboratory have developed a sensitive and higly efficient method for this analysis using UCT's flagship sorbent Clean Screen (CSDAU206). In this procedure whole blood samples were extracted and analyzed down to concentrations less than 1 ng per mL of whole blood. The samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry where the clean extracts were shown to have minimal matrix effects (less than 6% overall). The recoveries of the drug from whole blood using CSDAU206 SPE columns were found to be greater than 90%. These excellent analytical characteristics demonstrate why UCT is the premier manufacturer in SPE and our Clean Screen SPE columns are the best sorbents for the extraction of drugs in biological fluids.

Gamma hydroxybutyrate and CUQAX156

In the field of Forensic Toxicology, analysts are often asked to analyze for Gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in cases where drug facilitated crimes may have occurred. With this in mind, UCT is proud to announce that a validated method has been published in the Journal of Chromatography B (879 (2011) 3752– 3758) using Clean-Up QAX SPE columns . This methodology, developed in collaboration with a major crime laboratory, employs UCT's CUQAX156 column to extract GHB from human urine. With the use of an anionic exchange sorbent, Dr. Jeff Hackett and Albert Elian were able to extract GHB from only 50 microliters of urine down a concentration of 50 nanograms per milliliter. The procedure, performed on LC-MS/MS, produced very low matrix effects (less than 6 percent). The samples extracted from the SPE are of the highest quality, allowing instruments to stay cleaner, longer and permitting many more analyses to be performed.

CHQAX and Bisphosphonates in Australia

Clinical toxicologists often face the challenge of working to quantify difficult and low concentration medications in human beings. Falling into this category is the series of compounds known as Bisphosphonates. These pharmaceuticals are prescribed to counter the effects of bone disorders. Bisphosphonates are known to be difficult to analyze due to their phoshonic acid functional groupings and high polar character. One of the main issues with working with these types of materials is to produce a clean extract for analysis by modern instrumentation such as LC-MS/MS.

In Australia, a team lead by Dr. Sussan Ghassabian, PharmD has recently reported a validated method for the analysis of Bisphosphonates in human plasma (Journal of Chromatography B ( November 2011)). This procedure employs UCT's CHQAX solid phase extraction sorbent. The QAX column (hydroxy counter ion) is part of a range of Clean Up Anion Exchange Sorbents manufactured to the highest technical quality which also includes CUNAX (a weak anion exchanger) and CUPAX (a very weak anion exchange sorbent). In the case of Dr. Ghassabian's analysis, the phosphonic acid were efficiently held by the CHQAX, while interfering compounds could be rinsed away, offering a much cleaner environment for elution, and further analysis of the medications via on column derivatization.

Clean Screen EtG paper

Forensic Toxicologists working in the area of drugs and driving cases are being challenged to meet stricter regulations. In a new paper authored by Ronald Agius et al (Forensic Science International, October 2011), the Clean Screen EtG column (CSETG203) has been successfully employed to meet these guidelines, specifically applied in Germany to drivers wishing to regain their licences. In this paper, Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), the biomarker for ethyl alcohol consumption, was determined in urine samples down to 0.1 mg per L using only 600 microliters of sample. The method was applied to 78 real samples of urine in order to meet German authority regulations. In addition hair samples were also analyzed. 50 mg of sample was employed to test the method against the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) criteria. The levels of detection of this method using the Clean Screen EtG column (2.8 pg/ mg) were met.

UCT attends the Gulf Coast Conference this week

At this years annual Gulf Coast Conference, Galveston Island, TX, being held October 11th -12th, UCT will be represented by Environmental Product Manager, Don Shelly, and by Regional Sales Team Member, Andrew Johansen. As this conference is dedicated to the analysis of environmental-type samples, UCT is honored to support facilities (Federal, State, and County) involved in this much valued aspect of protection for US citizens. Don and Andrew will be on hand throughout the conference to offer advice, help and assistance with UCT's world respected environmental products and methodologies. As the innovator of Quechers for Environmental Analysis, both Don and Andrew will be more than pleased to answer queries/requests on this subject along with those concerning SPE, and related equipment for which UCT is also well-known for. Please feel free to visit the UCT booth, and talk with our experts in the field of environmental analysis and testing.