Ask the Agilent Experts Series – Part 6: The Gas Edition

Following up from our very successful previous sessions, we are delighted to offer another panel discussion in the ever-popular “Ask the Agilent Experts” series.

Have you ever had a question about your GC/GCMS analysis and thought, “I have no idea what to do,” or that since the question seemed so simple, everyone must already know the answer and “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what to do?” We can assure you that you are not alone.

If you have a question, we can guarantee that you are not the first…nor the last person to ask the question, especially when it comes to gases. Sometimes the simplest of questions can have the most complex answers. A question about the leaks on your mass spectrometer can lead to a discussion about how gas quality impacts sensitivity. A question about what to do when converting a method from helium to hydrogen carrier gas can lead to a discussion about column dimensions, column bleed, and what thermal stability means. There’s no such thing as an easy answer because the answer always depends on many different factors.

Experts from Agilent, as well as from the field, will discuss some of the most frequently asked questions about GC and GCMS (which may seem like simple questions but have anything but simple answers). We'll also answer new questions that we hope you will submit to us.

By attending this webinar, you will learn:

• How different carrier gases impact results and what to consider when converting methods from one carrier gas to another.
• What is column bleed, how it relates to thermal stability, how your carrier gas can impact it, and why it matters even when using selective detectors like mass specs.
• What is the difference between gas cylinders and gas generators, and should you consider using gas saving measures when using a generator.

What you need to know:

Date: 7th November, 2024

Start times:

• Broadcast #1: 7th November - 7:00 PST (Los Angeles) / 9:00 CST (Chicago) / 10:00 EST (New York) / 15:00 GMT (London) / 16:00 CET (Paris/Berlin)
• Broadcast #2: 7th November - 11:00 PST (Los Angeles) / 13:00 CST (Chicago) / 14:00 EST (New York)
• Broadcast #3: 8th November - 8:30 IST (New Delhi) / 11:00 SGT (Singapore) / 11:00 CST (Shanghai) / 12:00 JST (Tokyo) / 14:00 AEDT (Sydney) / 16:00 NZDT (Auckland)

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes

Presenter: Vanessa Abercrombie (MFS, GC Applications Chemist, Agilent Technologies)

Vanessa Abercrombie is a GC applications chemist at Agilent Technologies in Folsom, California, USA. Vanessa has a broad background in GC and GC/MS, including experience as an instrument chemist at Bode Technology in Virginia working under contract to the FBI’s Laboratory Division. Prior to that, Vanessa worked for ETS Labs in St. Helena, California, as an analytical chemist, where she researched and developed quantitative separations by GC/MS and UHPLC for beer, wine, and spirits. She holds a Masters of Forensic Science from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Sonoma State University.

Presenter: Ed Connor (Product Manager, PEAK Scientific Instruments)

Ed joined PEAK in 2013 as a GC product specialist and then moved to product management. He’s been working on many collaborative projects with PEAK customers and major instrument manufacturers worldwide. The main focus of these collaborations has been looking at conversion from helium to hydrogen carrier gas for GC applications. Ed completed his Dr.Sc. at ETH Zurich in 2007 using GC-MS to look at herbivore-induced plant volatiles and their interaction with beneficial insects. He then joined the University of Zurich where his work focused primarily on floral volatile analysis using a variety of volatile collection methods, GC-MS, and GC-FID.

Moderator: Diane Turner (Director & Senior Consultant, Anthias Consulting Ltd)

A Warwick University graduate, Diane completed her Master's in analytical chemistry and started her career in environmental chemistry, later gaining significant experience as an applications chemist. Diane’s area of research through her PhD studies at The Open University was disease diagnosis. She has developed methods and given support and training for companies in most industries around the world for more than 20 years. Diane holds voluntary roles with The Royal Society of Chemistry and other scientific organizations.