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Topic: Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH  (Read 7161 times)

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Offline Alpha-Omega

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Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH
« on: February 12, 2008, 12:30:18 AM »
What I Learned In IC Method Development Today….


OK Now I am NOT JUST Scared I am TERRIFIED...and if I were you I would not be walking around any QC Labs...not without an abient air source...WHOA...SLOW DOWN...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IC Method development…Signed Sealed and Now Certified….

OK….WHAT I HEARD….Right to my left..

Method Development QC CHEMIST:

"I am trying to develop methods for our IC.  I have done 5 since March…that is so much work…"

HHHMMM does not look overworked....maybe calling Tech Support too many times...HHHHMMM yeah she broke a nail..

“I have this sample with formate in it….all I need is the formate….I called the Technical Support and asked if it was OK to run acetonitrile through the system..THEY TOLD ME YES IT IS OK

OH THE HELL WE DID!!!!...WE SURE DID NOT NOT NOT...NO NO NO NO...AND JP UP THERE LOOKING ME RIGHT IN THE EYE...WELL IT SURE AS HELL WAS NOT ME....HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He was laughing....OK I was safe....these are the times I so wish I had something with which to PING HER IN THE HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"…because the matrix the sample is in will only dissolve in acetonitrile….I use 20% methanol and sodium hydroxide eluent….so how can I get this to work?”

JP tells her she is really doing reverse phase....and then that big BLANK LOOK comes over her face,,,,"What is RP?"  I can just see the words flying through her head just rying to make it thrrough that one brain cell she has....

OMG…SHE IS NUTS…running acetonitrile through the suppressor…HELLO DING DING DING DING…I mean CODE BLUE…AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH OMG   every single piece of literature clearly states NO ACN in the suppressor it can form HCN GAS….that is called SUDDEN DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Girl, I would so love to give you a hand...like a head start....!!!!!

OMG they had to tell her 3 times…NOW WAY…before you smell it you will hit the floor…..

LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYvC61xLgmc

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

« Last Edit: February 12, 2008, 02:23:48 AM by Alpha-Omega »

Offline Arkcon

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Re: Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2008, 07:39:19 AM »
A common storage solvent for size exclusion columns is sodium azide, it is historically used to prevent bacterial attack of the dextran medium.  You're supposed to flush the column out with water, before and after storage, so the azide never contacts acid.  Wanna know how many people I've met don't feel like following that?
Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.

Offline Alpha-Omega

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Re: Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2008, 08:23:55 AM »
I think I have met them...they call me...LOL

OH here you go how about SODIUM ACETATE..

So does anyone know of even on electrolytic CD application that uses sodium acetate..NO NOT...and that is because...YES IT IS FLAMABLE...

I have so many people blow in water thru strong cation exchange columns for 24 hrs.. and calling me and asking me why they have NO PEAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you imagine that...REALLY NO PEAKS....

AVM and I have seen the sodium acetate used and it blows...so that is eye witness account....ERGO why there are no EGCs that contain sodium acetate....

LOL do not think I want to test that acetonitrile theory....LMAO...
« Last Edit: February 12, 2008, 11:37:04 PM by Alpha-Omega »

Offline Arkcon

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Re: Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2008, 11:00:26 PM »
When I was still in college, before I even knew what an HPLC system was, I was privy to an exchange between a grad student, and a system management technician.  It appears the student had injected an NaOH saturated solution of ethanol onto a normal phase column. 

The technician was pretty angry, and was certain the column was destroyed.  Most people who know about silica columns would agree.  And many non-experts who know that strong base etches soft glass can make the connection -- finely divided silica can't handle base, and realize there was theoretical support for the technicians point of view.  At least it made sense to me at the time.  I knew that injections on this column were usually hexane extractions of aqueous solutions, so the procedure she'd used seemed out of place, at the very least.

The student was adamant that she had followed a published protocol.  The technician, did not agree she was following a correct protocol, she either misread it, or it was for some reason bogus.  She did not relent on her position, that she'd done nothing wrong by following her protocol.  And back and forth it went.

I tell this story to as many people as I can, whenever I'm in a lab environment, and I discovered that there are two kinds of people in this world.  People annoyed at listening to me and people who haven't met me yet.  No, wait, that's not it.

Some people when told this story, either know what can damage a column, or know to defer to an authority or, at the very least, when confronted by disagreement on a technical point, agree to seek out support for their point of view, before they insist further.  And these sorts of people are fine to work with, I've found.

Occasionally, someone will take the grad student's position -- even though this dilemma doesn't actually affect them in the here and now.  They insist that respecting someone's point of view, no matter how flimsy the support, is absolutely needed.  Simply by achieving grad student status, her point of view had to be respected, and her assurances that she was following a protocol, shouldn't be questioned.  And these people I've learned, are to be avoided at all costs.  With a little luck they hang themselves with their own rope.  Unfortunately, they sometimes can't be avoided well enough to keep yourself perfectly safe.  But it's good to know where someone is coming from, just in case.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2008, 11:10:28 PM by Arkcon »
Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.

Offline Alpha-Omega

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Re: Officially Certified in IC Method Development-AAAAAHHHHHHHH
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2008, 11:34:17 PM »
Respect is earned it is not a consequence of position....it is a consequence of disposition!  Indeed, that student may have found such a protocol....but just because something is written does not make it so....

I like the story....and BTW...there are plenty of times where...both tech support and the caller say "WE DO NOT KNOW." 

OMG can you even imagine there are actually many things I do not know....

And even when we are up front in your face honest....then some people will just get all confrontational.."Well, isn't this tech suport?"

Well, Sir, I am really sorry but the tech support line you require has not yet been invented..


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