Knowledge Centre

A catalyst is a substance that accelerates a chemical reaction or reduces the required temperature or pressure to initiate one, without being consumed in the process. Catalysts enhance the efficiency of this process by lowering the activation energy, which is the energy barrier that must be overcome for a chemical reaction to take place

In this rapidly advancing field of chemistry, catalysts play a pivotal role in accelerating chemical reactions, thereby making processes more efficient and environmentally friendly. Gas chromatography (GC) is emerging as a critical analytical tool that significantly enhances the study and application of catalytic processes.

The determination of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) is a commonly performed analysis, to determine the quality of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Natural EVOO is made by pressing or centrifuging olives, without exposing the olives to any chemical processing. A way of producing cheaper olive oil is to mix them with cheaper oils, such as sunflower oil and refined

The purpose of chromatography is to separate, identify and assess purity of components within a mixture for qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Analytical method development is important across many different industries including, pharmaceutical, environmental, food and chemical manufacturing. Method development aims to ensure that the analytical assays used are accurate, precise and reliable.

Understanding the terminology associated with chromatography is important in order to understand your application. This technical note aims to provide clarity on some of the most commonly used terms within the industry.

There are a variety of reasons why we may need to prepare a sample before it can be analyzed, some of the most common reasons are cleaning up the sample, increasing the concentration of the target analyte, switching the sample solvent or matrix and derivatization of the analyte.

Solid phase extraction (SPE) is a technique that is used to clean up and concentrate samples prior to analysis by gas chromatography (GC) or high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This often involves the use of SPE cartridges which are cartridges that contain a chromatographic sorbent bed, the analytes will remain on the sorbent bed and the sample matrix liquid will

LLE is perhaps one of the oldest and most widely used sample extraction techniques, it has applications across many different industries including pharmaceutical, pesticide and forensics. LLE can also be used in the environmental and food industries for numerous applications – such as the analysis of semi-volatile organic compounds.

Derivatization extraction can increase the detectability of the target analyte. It is also able to allow for the analysis of compounds which are not directly amenable because they may have inadequate volatility or stability.