Recent revisions to USP General Chapter <467> Residual Solvents have reinforced the importance of gas chromatography in pharmaceutical analysis. The new regulations increase the number of solvents requiring testing from seven to 59, a clear impact to pharmaceutical labs. Meanwhile, leading GC manufacturers are revising and upgrading their offerings:

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) has made enhancements to its 7890A GC and 5975C GC/MS. One is the latest version of its GC x GC configuration found in the 7890A, which separates complex samples by diverting each peak from one GC column to a second. The twomethod relies on Agilent capillary flow technology and can increase peak capacity and resolving power, useful for complex mixtures. The capillary flow's simplicity allows the machine to "move beyond the realm of the specialized research lab into the routine analytical lab," says Shanya Kane, Agilent VP and general manager for GC systems. Agilent has also recently introduced the J&W High-Efficiency Capillary GC columns. The columns are designed for speed and resolution. Applications include high-throughput screening, fast process monitoring, rapid QC analysis, and quick method development. Finally, the company has acquired RVM Scientific Inc., a manufacturer of rapid heating/cooling systems for GC.

PerkinElmer's (Waltham, Mass.) GC obsession of late has been on increasing the throughput of its systems, says Alessandro Baldi, chromatography products and marketing manager. With the just-released Clarus 600, PerkinElmer is boasting "the fastest injection-to-injection time in conventional gas chromatography," making it more relevant for at-line or fast off-line applications. The enabler is a new oven design with a rapid cool-down — from 450°C to 50°C in two minutes, Baldi says. The secret is the oven's rear chimney-like opening that releases heat quickly.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments' (Columbia, Md.) focus of late has been on software, such as its new Automatic Adjustment of Retention Time (AART) function within its GCMSsolution Software package. While retention times may change as a result of capillary columns being trimmed during maintenance or exchanged, AART can adjust the retention times of multiple analytes as column age and length change. Method compound tables containing a large number of analytes can be updated easily, or methods may be transferred to other instruments, says Kevin Mclaughlin, Sr MarComm Coordinator. Shimadzu has also been working with Phenomenex, Inc. (Torrance, Calif.), which has developed a high-speed amino acid analysis kit, EZ:faast. Use of the kit, with a GC/ MS Metabolite Database and the AART function, can save time in examining analytical conditions and registering compound information in the method file. Phenomenex was recently awarded an R&D Magazine "R&D 100 Award" for its Zebron Inferno gas chromatography column, which sustains temperatures up to 430°C (806°F). The column is protected from extreme temperatures by a polyimide coating.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Mass.) has introduced its ChromQuest 5.0 Chromatography Data System (CDS) software, which features a new user interface, data acquisition, data processing and reporting for Thermo Scientific LC and GC instrumentation. 5.0 is designed for multi-user and multi-instrument operations, and provides integrated instrument control for the complete range of existing Thermo Scientific GC products, automated by the TriPlus autosampler for liquid, headspace and SPME sampling techniques.