JAAS News

The 11th European Workshop in Laser Ablation was held on June 19 – 22, 2012 in Gijón, Spain, organized by scientists from the University of Oviedo: JAAS Advisory Board Member Prof. Jorge Pisonero, Dr. Beatriz Fernández, Prof. Rosario Pereiro García and Dr. Nerea Bordel García. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the II Spanish Workshop on LA-ICP-MS was simultaneously organized.

The conference counted with the participation of 110 persons from Africa, America, Asia and Europe, who presented 24 Oral communications and 33 posters. In addition, several instrument demos and user meetings took place. JAAS Chair Prof. Frank Vanhaecke, former JAAS Chair Prof. Deflet Günther, Dr. Violeta Lazic, Prof. Rick Russo and Dr. Josephine Bunch were the Invited Lecturers. You can find some recent examples of these authors’ work below.

Of course, the organizers made sure that the participants had plenty of opportunities to taste the local sidra, which, in combination with the high quality of the works presented, made this workshop a most memorable event.

From right to left: Prof. Alfredo Sanz-Medel (Abc Editor), Prof. Detlef Günther (JAAS Chair), Andreas Riedo (Best Oral presentation), Rebeca Valledor (JAAS Poster Award), Reto Glaus (Abc Poster Award) and Prof. Jorge Pisonero (Chairman)

A symposium celebrating 50-years of Atomic Spectroscopy in The Netherlands was held on June 7 2012 in Tilburg (The Netherlands). The conference was organized by the Atomic Spectroscopy Working Group (WAS), chaired by JAAS Advisory board member Prof. Margaretha de Loos-Vollebregt, following the success of previous events (e.g., 40 and 45-year celebrations). 130 attendees from the academia and the industry gathered in the nice venue selected for the occasion (Villa de Vier Jaargetijden in Tilburg), where the Invited Speakers Jean-Michel Mermet, Martín Resano, Leo de Galan, Jochen Vogl, Michael Sperling, Ralph Sturgeon and Joris Dik presented their latest work. You can find some recent examples of these authors’ work below.

Great to see that Atomic Spectroscopy is still in very good shape in The Netherlands!

Invited speakers sharing dinner in Tilburg

Universal calibration for metal determination in fuels and biofuels by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry based on segmented flow injection and a 350 °C heated chamber

Raquel Sánchez, José Luis Todolí, Charles-Philippe Lienemann and Jean-Michel Mermet, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 937-945

Direct determination of sulfur in solid samples by means of high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry using palladium nanoparticles as chemical modifier

Martín Resano and María R. Flórez, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 401-412

Development and validation of a single collector SF-ICPMS procedure for the determination of boron isotope ratios in water and food samples

Jochen Vogl, Martin Rosner and Wolfgang Pritzkow, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011,26, 861-869

Speciation analysis of the antirheumatic agent Auranofin and its thiol adducts by LC/ESI-MS and LC/ICP-MS

Anastasia Albert, Christine Brauckmann, Franziska Blaske, Michael Sperling, Carsten Engelhard and Uwe Karst, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 975-981

Some speculations on the mechanisms of photochemical vapor generation

Ralph E. Sturgeon and Patricia Grinberg, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 222-231

Optimization of mobile scanning macro-XRF systems for the in situ investigation of historical paintings

Matthias Alfeld, Koen Janssens, Joris Dik, Wout de Nolf and Geert van der Snickt, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011,26, 899-909

The SCIX program committee has extended the deadline for abstract submission to the SCIX conference to May 15, 2012 for those papers wishing to be considered for an oral presentation. Abstracts for poster presentations can be submitted until July 31, 2012.  All abstracts can be submitted online at http://www.scixconference.org.

Dr. Steven J. Ray

The 28^th CCS Congress was held on April 13-16, 2012, at Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. During the congress, a celebration for the 80th anniversary of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS, 1932-2012) was organized. This is the most important professional congress in China, focused on basic research and applications of Chemistry. The congress included 19 individual sessions and 9 specific forums. More than 4000 people, including scientists, researchers, lab technicians, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from different universities, institutes, and different countries attended the congress. There were 1336 presentations, including 6 plenary lectures, 557 invited lectures, 773 oral presentations, and 2625 poster presentations.

The Analytical Chemistry Session was organized by Prof. Xiandeng Hou and Prof. Yi Lv from College of Chemistry, Sichuan University. The chairman of the session was Prof. Hongyuan Chen (Academician of CAS, Najing University), and the vice chairman was Prof. Xiurong Yang in Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, CAS. It was mainly devoted to recent developments in atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, electroanalysis, chromatography, nanoscience-based analysis, and new analytical instruments. More than 300 people attended the session. It consisted of 130 presentations, including 38 invited lectures and 92 oral presentations, as well as 186 posters. This congress has provided an opportunity for the academic exchange, and will further promote the development of chemistry in China.

The Beijing Mass Spectrometry Annual Meeting 2011 was organized by Beijing Physical & Chemistry Testing Technology Society and Beijing Society for Mass Spectrometry on March 30, 2012. During the meeting, the Fifth Atomic Spectroscopy Workshop of China was held. This is the fist professional workshop in China focused on basic research and applications of atomic spectroscopy, which was initiated by Zhi Xing in Tsinghua University Analysis Center. The workshop aims at providing an opportunity for the academic exchange, creating a close cooperation in a relaxing way, in the hope of promoting the development of analytical chemistry. Since 2010, the workshop has been held five times. The conventioneers, including scientists, researchers, and lab technicians of atomic spectrometry, come mainly from Analysis Center of Tsinghua University, Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Science, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science, National Institute of Metrology P.R. China, General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, National Research Center for Geoanalysis, CNNC Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology and some instrument manufacturers of China.

The latest research progress, experience on instrument usage, instrumental development, and applications in pharmaceutical, food, environmental and petrochemical analysis, among other fields, have been discussed in the workshop. In addition, relationships have been built on the sharing of standardized samples and special instruments, as well as on interlaboratory comparisons. This workshop is a key contributor for the development of atomic spectrometry analysis in China.

Abstract submission is open for the SCIX 2012 meeting presented by the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS). SCIX will be held in Kansas City, MO, USA, from September 30 – October 5.

The submission deadline for abstracts that will be considered for oral presentation is April 20, 2012. Abstracts will be accepted until July 31 for poster presentations. Please visit http://scixconference.org for abstract submission and further information.

Steven Ray, SCIX 2012 Program Chair and coauthor of this entry, has identified several focal areas that will be highlighted in the 2012 program:

• Current status of the analytical sciences: focus on human health (organized by RSC and ACS)
• Atomic spectrometry and the analysis of nanomaterials
• Speciation analysis: progress in trace metal speciation
• New plasmas, new instrumentation, and new approaches at the frontier of atomic spectrometry
• Isoscapes: redefining the landscape in the archaeological and geological sciences with high fidelity isotope ratio analysis
• Sampling the world with laser ablation and atomic spectrometry
• Chemistry in arts and archaeology
• Novel sample introduction techniques and tools for atomic spectroscopy
• Fundamental aspects of plasma spectrochemistry: using what we learn to improve analytical atomic spectrometry

Contributed sessions will be added to the program as space allows. If you do not see a program area above that fits your research focus, don’t let it stop you from submitting a paper!

We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City.

Carsten Engelhard
SCIX 2012 Atomic Spectroscopy Program Section Chair

Exhibition floor

The 2012 Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy, Pittcon, was held on March 11 – 14, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

Over ~1,280 oral presentations and ~100 short courses on all aspects of analytical chemistry were presented.

Clearly, one highlight of the scientific program was the session entitled “Advancing analytical technologies for human health and security”, organized by Dr. May Copsey, Editor of the Analytical journals at RSC.  Distinguished scientists Prof. Gary M. Hieftje, Prof. Joseph Caruso, Prof. R. Kenneth Marcus, Prof. Roy Goodacre, and Prof. Zheng Ouyang gave well-received lectures on their recent discoveries.

Prof. R. Graham Cooks, Purdue University, gave the Sunday plenary lecture and demonstrated how ambient ionization and miniaturized mass spectrometers can help to promote human health and forensics.

(You can find some recent examples of these authors’ work below – May Copsey, Ed.)

The RSC booth on the exhibition floor was very busy thanks to free coffee and – more importantly – the presence of RSC journal editors and staff. Many visitors stopped by to meet, greet, and to learn about new things at RSC.

Exhibition centre

Interestingly, the exhibition was smaller compared to previous years and major companies, namely Perkin Elmer and Agilent Technologies, skipped the show. In total, approx. 15,500 attendees visited the conference and expo.

If you attended the conference and would like to share your experience, please leave a comment below.

Pittcon 2013 will be held in Philadelphia, PA, March 17 – 21, 2013.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia.

Of course, this is just a personal view and many more instruments from other companies are available as well. For more information please visit, e.g., the scientific instruments database provided by EVISA.

Articles of interest

Thermal mechanism for formation of electrical prepeak and pressure waves in a microsecond direct current pulsed glow discharge with a Grimm-type source: a modeling investigation
Maxim Voronov, V Hoffmann, Wolfgang Buscher, Carsten Engelhard, Steven J Ray and Gary M Hieftje
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI:10.1039/C2JA30014A

Significant proteins affecting cerebral vasospasm using complementary ICPMS and MALDI-MS
Renee N. Easter, Colin G. Barry, Gail Pyne-Geithman and Joseph A. Caruso
Metallomics, 2012, 4, 48-55
DOI: 10.1039/C1MT00079A

Systems level studies of mammalian metabolomes: the roles of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Warwick B. Dunn, David I. Broadhurst, Helen J. Atherton, Royston Goodacre and Julian L. Griffin
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 387-426
DOI: 10.1039/B906712B

Femtosecond laser ablation particle introduction to a liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge ionization source
Anthony J. Carado, C. Derrick Quarles, Andrew M. Duffin, Charles J. Barinaga, Richard E. Russo, R. Kenneth Marcus, Gregory C. Eiden and David W. Koppenaal
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 385-389
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10331A

Rapid Analysis of Whole Blood by Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry for Point-of-Care Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
Ryan D Espy,  Nicholas E Manicke,  Zheng Ouyang and R. Graham Cooks
Analyst, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35082C

The 2012 Spectr’Atom conference takes place at Palais Beaumont, Pau, France, 19-22 June.

This meeting is aimed at a wide spectrum of atomic spectrometry users and seeks to promote exchanges between francophone colleagues from Europe, Africa and Canada.

The organisers hope that such an exchange forum will contribute to the development of various sectors of the analytical sciences in French-speaking countries.

Submission of abstracts is open until 31 March, and more details can be found on the event website.

See below for a selection of papers from French-speaking countries*
*We can’t promise that all the authors are themselves fluent in French!

Quantitative analysis of metallic traces in water-based liquids by UV-IR double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
Kheireddine Rifai, Stéphane Laville, François Vidal, Mohamad Sabsabi and Mohamed Chaker
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 276-283
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10178A

Detection of selenoproteins in human cell extracts by laser ablation-ICP MS after separation by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotting
Juliusz Bianga, Guillaume Ballihaut, Christophe Pécheyran, Zahia Touat, Hugues Preud’homme, Sandra Mounicou, Laurent Chavatte, Ryszard Lobinski and Joanna Szpunar
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 25-32
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10239G

First examination of slag inclusions in medieval armours by confocal SR-µ-XRF and LA-ICP-MS
S. Leroy, R. Simon, L. Bertrand, A. Williams, E. Foy and Ph. Dillmann
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, 26, 1078-1087
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00261E

Combined neutron and synchrotron X-ray microprobe analysis: attempt to disclose 3600 years-old secrets of a unique bronze age metal artifact
D. Grolimund, D. Berger, S. Bolliger Schreyer, C. N. Borca, S. Hartmann, F. Müller, J. Hovind, K. Hunger, E. H. Lehmann, P. Vontobel and H. A. O. Wang
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, 26, 1012-1023
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00262C