(no subject)

[moonwise]

This is a totally HPLC-produced rant, brought to you by Inotek Corp.



So they send me their damnable samples. They send me loads of FP-15 in a jar and a bunch of traces and say "this stuff is really bad, make some sense out of it." I put together a solvent system and fire back some traces.

They don't believe my traces and continue to point at their data, which looks like a lot of noise. No data at all about what wavelength they're monitoring, no photo-diode array spectra, no nothing to prove to me that what they're seeing is what they say it is.

They have this big old peak at about 11 minutes that they claim is their FP-15 peak coming out. Well, Messrs. HPLC techs who must know more than Arafel because they are freaking getting PAID for this job and she is not, your fool FP-15 peak is damn skippy NOT coming out at 11 minutes. Your FP-15 peak is coming out much later, and we have the same column as you do and I am using your gradient, how about that.

You guys are just full of crap and that's all.

Comments

[pipeandslippers.livejournal.com]

...which looks like a lot of noise. No data at all about what wavelength they're monitoring, no photo-diode array spectra...

Got to admit it sounds like they've done some crappy experiements and you've done some good ones. You've got to wonder when was the last time Inotek's column was cleaned of all the crap they've probably got stuck to it as well. Remember that technicians are paid and so he's not just defending his data, but his job. But that, as they say, is not your problem.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I take it you've had some similar experiences. :)

I wonder that too, whether they just haven't been conditioning their columns properly, or what. If you aren't monitoring in the UV, then you have to take into account that you might get false peaks if you're using a refractive index detector or somesuch when you abruptly change solvent conditions, which is what they're doing.

*sobs* It is my problem, my boss keeps telling me that it is! :)

[pipeandslippers.livejournal.com]

I haven't done any HPLC for years and luckily we aren't doing that sort of stuff for industrial collaborators. But I have seen more than enough dubious experiments in my time!