Click here if you can't read this mail.

To Nest Group homepage | Subscribe | Unsubscribe
Merck SeQuant Newsletter - January 2009
You are registered as a recipient of the Merck SeQuant Newsletter.
Our aim is to present interesting and valuable news to our readers, and we intend to highlight methods and strategies for HILIC separation of polar and hydrophilic compounds, such as peptides, metabolites, ions etc.

This edition - January 2009, focus on a recent incident with poisoned medicine killing dozens of children in Nigeria. In addition, we also would like to give inform on the the present problem with acetontrile shortage, and how other alternative solvents can be used for HILIC applications.

Merck SeQuant develop and manufacture innovative products for separation and purification. We take pride in delivering high quality products and advanced technical support to customers world wide.


Dr Patrik Appelblad
Dr Tobias Jonsson

 
Poisoned Medicine
At the end of 2008, more than 30 Nigerian children died after being given poisoned medicine, containing high concentrations of anti-freeze Diethylene Glycol (DEG). The last ten years, there has been an increasing number of incidents with counterfeited medical products, and counterfeit drug sales is predicted to reach $75 billion in 2010. In addition, diethylene glycol has also been found in consumer products like toothpaste.

With this e-newletter a technical application note is presented dealing with analysis of diethylene glycol in medical formulations.

 
Acetonitrile Shortage
At present there is, as most of you already are aware of, a global shortage of acetonitrile. This is a real nuisance, since it is the favorite organic solvent for many of us. It has impact on productivity and elevates the cost per analysis for many applications.

This shortage is probably temporary, but in the meantime there are ways to reduce or replace the use of our preferred solvent for both HILIC and reversed phase applications.
We have created a page on our website with suggestions on how to reduce consumption of acetonitrile while avoiding or minimizing negative impact on your chromatographic results.

 
Merck SeQuant AB | Box 7956 | S-90719 Umeå | Sweden | Tel: +46-90-154880 | info@sequant.com