If you work in a clinical or forensic lab, you know that when it comes to testing urine samples for THC, the goal is simple: get accurate, reliable results. But behind every clean data point is a critical process that doesn’t always get the spotlight — sample preparation. At United Chemical, we support labs with…
In chemistry labs, small decisions can make a big difference. Whether you’re working on a complex synthesis or a straightforward purification, the quality of your materials impacts the outcome. One of those materials—often overlooked but incredibly important—is basic alumina. At United Chemical, we specialize in high-purity alumina designed for demanding applications. But before we dive…
“DETERMINATION OF SEMIVOLATILE ORGANIC CHEMICALS IN DRINKING WATER BY SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION AND CAPILLARY COLUMN GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY/ MASS SPECTROMETRY (GC/MS)” Initially published in 1988, Method 525 had two additional versions before the latest version, Method 525.3, was published in 2012. For brevity, we will provide the conclusion to the article first and then the main…
In laboratories and chemical processing environments, cleanliness and contamination control are essential. As processes become more sophisticated, so does the demand for smart, reliable cleanup solutions. That’s where Enviro Clean eHub, one of United Chem’s most advanced product lines, comes into play. Designed for high-performance applications, the Enviro Clean eHub offers a streamlined and highly…
It is not exactly a household name, but it should be. This compound pops up in all kinds of foods we love, especially those cooked at elevated temperatures like fries, toast, and roasted coffee. When foods like potatoes and grains are cooked above 120°C, they undergo the Maillard reaction, the browning process that makes your food taste so good. But along with those delicious flavors, acrylamide is formed. (The reaction of asparagine with reducing sugars…
Microgreens have gained popularity due to their abundant nutritional content, providing a diverse range of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. They are harvested at an early stage, typically within a few weeks of germination when they are just a few inches tall and have developed their first true leaves. Recently, there has been interest in microgreen…
Transdermal administration of buprenorphine via a patch has been investigated in animals such as dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, and primates. Paranjape VV. et al to their knowledge are the first to describe the use on horses. This study monitored the physiological conditions and pharmacokinetic profile of six horses under three different rounds of treatments. BUP0…
After identifying a novel psychoactive substance (NPS), additional work is needed to elucidate the metabolic pathway of the analytes. Pharmacokinetic studies are important for forensic laboratories with less sensitive instruments as metabolites are often more abundant in urine than parent compounds. This study by Fong and Moy looks to compare data from authentic urine samples…
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are chlorinated organic compounds widely used in various industrial applications from the 1930s until their ban in the late 1970s. The compounds have excellent heat resistance and electrical insulating properties, so they were commonly used in industrial equipment. PCBs were also prevalent in caulking as a plasticizer in buildings constructed between 1950…
The presence of xylazine continues to be on the rise in samples containing fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances. A recent method published in the Journal of Chromatography B uses SPE and LC/MS-MS to quantitate xylazine, 4-ANPP, acetyl fentanyl, fentanyl, norfentanyl, and p-fluorofentanyl. Xylazine is rarely abused on its own, and research suggests it has effects comparable…
Ketoprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat musculoskeletal inflammation and pain in horses. In the United States, the use of ketoprofen in racing horses is controlled by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). Under this newly established federal organization ketoprofen has screening limits of 2 ng/mL in blood and 100 ng/mL…
You probably know what salmon and tires are, but have you ever heard of 6PPD? How about 6PPD-q? 6PPD stands for N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine. When this compound is exposed to air, ozone reacts with 6PPD to form its quinone, 6PPD-q. How about salmon and tires? 6PPD is a tire stabilizer that prevents tires from breaking down. As…
Xylazine is a veterinary sedative that is becoming an increasingly popular cutting agent in fentanyl samples. This combination of drugs is commonly referred to as “Traq”. Xylazine is not approved for use in humans, so it is not fully understood how xylazine contributes to overdose deaths. To gain insight into its prevalence in overdose cases,…
With diluted wastewater discharge being used as a source of drinking water in many locations throughout the world, it should be of concern which medications are commonly found in our wastewater. Researchers at the Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science & Technology have published a method for the determination of two common analgesics…
As Cannabis use continues to rise worldwide, more research is needed in the antemortem and postmortem toxicology of THC and its metabolites. Postmortem toxicology is crucial for death investigations but can be challenging due to postmortem redistribution (PMR). Blood and urine are the preferred samples for analysis, but may not always be available during a…
The abuse of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is well known in humans. However, its misuse is becoming more popular in horseracing to enhance the performance of the racehorses. Fentanyl has both an analgesic and stimulatory effect on horses. The use of fentanyl in equine sports is prohibited by both the Association of Racing Commissioners International…
Katherine Biggie, a graduate student from Bowling Green State University, has published an excellent thesis entitled “CANNABIDIOL EXTRACTION AND QUANTIFICATION: A COMPARISON OF FOUR SOLVENT BASED EXTRACTION METHODS IN GUMMY MATRICES.” Four extraction methods were compared to determine the ideal method to use with a gummy matrix. The four methods are acetonitrile soak, QuEChERS followed…
Orange juice is among the top10 ten most adulterated beverages sold to consumers. Renowned analytical chemists Drs. Jian Wang and Willis Chow from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have developed a method utilizing QuEChERS extraction and UHPLC/ESI Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometry to determine what is orange juice from concentrate (FC) and not from concentrate (NFC)….
For many of us, we can remember our parents and grandparents peeling potatoes before cooking them. For those of us who like the taste of potato skins, we often wondered why they bothered. Before mass production and grocery stores, people grew their potatoes in a garden or bought them from people who raised them in…
Drug trends in some regions of the world are extensively studied while in other regions little to no research has been done. For example, countless studies have been performed in the United States of America while in the midst of its opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, in the Arabian Gulf region, only a few studies have been…
United Chemical Technologies is widely known for our high-quality solid phase extraction products and stationary phases. Though we full equipped to make custom bonded phases for clients, we love to see what researchers discover on their own. A research group from the Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais do Pontal in Brazil is studying a…
Researchers worldwide have been studying Hericium erinaceus [1] (also called lion’s mane mushroom, mountain-priest mushroom, or bearded tooth fungus). This magical mushroom is common throughout North America, Europe, and Asia and can be seen growing on dead American beech and maple trees in late summer and autumn. Most research involves testing how various compounds extracted…
Fentanyl, a well-known synthetic opioid approximately 100 times more potent than morphine, continues to be a public health issue. In cases of a fentanyl overdose, it is difficult to determine the cause of death based on toxicological information alone due to the tolerance of habitual users and significant post-mortem redistribution. An Italian group published a…
The ability to study antibiotic resistant pathogens by using methods such as antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is important, especially with the rapid emergence of more and more antibiotic resistant pathogens. AST is a method with uses droplets of solutions as individual, isolated environments, thus allowing for high-throughput experiments. The ability for small molecule antibiotics to…
A recently published master’s thesis from UC Davis discusses rodenticide diastereomers in wildlife liver samples. Liver samples from both targeted and non-target wildlife were analyzed for this project. Non-target species included coyotes, gray foxes, and cougars. The student used chicken liver for the control. Samples were analyzed for the cis and trans isomers of bromadiolone…
There are a very limited number of medical interventions to prevent placental-mediated adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth (PTB) and no interventions available for pre-eclampsia (PE). This is because pharmaceuticals are unable to cross feto-maternal interface (FMi) barriers and there is lack of proper models to test drug interactions, teratogenicity, and cytotoxicity at those…
QuEChERS extraction ECQUEU750CT-MP (4.0 g MgSO4, 1.0 g NaCl, 1.0 g sodium citrate tribasic dihydrate, 0.5 g sodium citrate dibasic sesquihydrate) QuEChERS cleanup ECQUEU315-MP (900 mg MgSO4, 150 mg PSA, 150 mg C18) ECMPS15CT (900 mg MgSO4, 150 mg PSA) ECQUCHL215CT (900 mg MgSO4, 300 mg C18, 300 mg ChloroFiltr®) Researchers at the Institute…
Optical tweezers (OT) are a device that can manipulate individual molecules with cells by using light from low-wattage lasers and are used to study and manipulate DNA and RNA. There is a serious limitation to these optical tweezers. They can only measure a single degree of freedom, which is then projected onto a single dimension….
The study of viruses is a never-ending battle. Even for well-studied viruses such as the influenza A virus, scientists are continuing to discover new data. A research group in Brandeis University has begun to study the particle structure of viruses to determine how the shape influences infectivity. This study used fluorescently labeled microscope slides, functionalized…
Romanian scientists¹ have developed a quick and easy analytical method to determine if wines contain pesticide residues less than the European Union’s maximum residue limits. They focused on the detection of six pesticide residues in red, rosé, and white wines. The pesticides chosen were Acetamiprid, Chlorantraniliprole, and Iprovalicarb, Myclobutanil, Tebuconazole, and Oxiathiapiprolin. The researchers used…
With a growing interest in clinical applications in recent years, the demand for Gallium-68 (68Ga) has also increased. 68Ga-DOTATATE is used as a radiotracer in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to detect and evaluate cancer-causing Neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cells. A particle accelerator, Cyclotron, is used in generating radioactive isotope 68Ga at a large scale. In a recent study published…
In the pursuit of cancer research and clinical applications, one of the most important factors is the recognition and quantitation of the CdkN2A/p16 anti-oncogene, AKA the multiple tumor suppressor 1 gene (MTS1). This gene is associated with metastatic spread of tumor cells, which, in general terms, the higher the quantified amount of this gene, the…
With concerns over the household use of pyrethroid pesticides for mosquito control, researchers in Thailand have developed a validated method for analyzing cis/trans-permethrinic acid in powdered milk. Pyrethroids are naturally occurring pesticides that are synthesized to manufacture mosquito coils and sprays for home use. These pesticides can bioaccumulate in women’s bodies and be excreted in…
Fentanyl serves as a powerful analgesic agent to manage pain during labor and delivery. However, prolonged prenatal exposure can make babies drug dependent and sudden discontinuation may result in conditions like Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) or Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS). Adequate literature on the suitability of umbilical cord as a specimen for drug testing…
Motor neurons allow the body to move, speak, and breathe due to the propagation of action potentials between neuron nodes. The space between neurons, known as a node of Ranvier, are protected by a myelin sheath. When these nodes or sheaths, become damaged, they lead to demyelinating neuropathies such as schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome…
Researchers at the Institute of Plant Protection-National Research Institute and the Academy of Agrobusiness in Poland determined individual fungicides, Fluazinam, Dithianon, and Dodine, and mixtures of the three fungicides cause diverse effects in leafy vegetables. When researchers mixed the herbicides, they discovered that Fluazinam had a longer dissipation time and Dithianon and Dodine degraded faster….
The major metabolite of Dopamine, 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT) is monitored in equine urine samples as an indicator of dopaminergic manipulation from Levodopa administration. Tyramine is a biogenic amine produced by decarboxylation of amino acid L-Tyrosine. Changes in the diet could alter the concentration of tyramine making it a potential biomarker for monitoring dopamine abuse. The goal…
Microfiber materials have been widely used for many applications, in the medical field, such as in sutures. Chitosan fibers, along with chitin fibers, are candidates for similar biofibers due to stronger inherent mechanical properties, however the current synthesis of these fibers, which uses epoxy-based crosslinkers, leads to interruption of the crystalline character of the chitosan,…
The terpene-filled plant, Plectranthus zeylanicus Benth can be found growing in the hills of Sri Lanka and has been used in Sri Lankan folk medicine as a treatment for inflammation and microbial infections. A team of international researchers has been working to isolate the bioactive ingredients of this plant. Previous investigations have found potent 5-LO…
In a recent article published in the MDPI journal, authored by Ahmed I. Al-Asmari et al., UCT’s Clean Screen® DAU column (CSDAU203) was employed to extract Amphetamines from cadaveric fluids. The objective of this research was to conduct an epidemiological study concerning Amphetamine related postmortem cases in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. To obtain more information on…
Researchers at the Reference Laboratory for Food Chemistry, Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have discovered more toxins in cigarettes than previously thought. The researchers analyzed 60 tobacco samples from 8 popular cigarettes brands commercially available in the Saudi market. They found significant concentrations of toxic metals and banned pesticides. The researchers…
Clinical diagnostic tests use blood plasma for detecting the biomarkers of illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, and many others. Blood plasma makes up about half of the make up of whole blood and the separation of plasma is both labor and time intensive. A group of researchers from Texas A&M University have designed a microfluidic…
Chemical protection of plants is necessary to maximize crop yields. Consequently, using pesticides can disrupt the concentrations of biochemical compounds in plants and reduce the availability of essential plant nutrients available to the human diet. Researchers at the Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute in Poland have recently published a paper showing how…
New research published in the Biophysical Journal introduces a new method utilizing magnetically-actuated microposts as a scaffold for the stimulation of axon regeneration. These non-toxic, magnetic microposts, synthesized using tridecafluorooctyltrichlorosilane (United Chemical Technologies PART # T2492) as a mold release agent, were used as scaffolds for neuron growth and support for application of a magnetic field over…
Tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy is a serious public health concern, resulting in adverse obstetrical and neonatal outcomes including miscarriage, preeclampsia, low birth weight, preterm delivery, fetal growth restriction, decreased head circumference, placenta abruption, and facial abnormalities. Meconium is a good matrix for in utero drug exposure assessment in pregnancies carried to term. Although meconium formation begins as early as 13 weeks, other methods must assess earlier exposure. In this study, we examined whether analysis of fetal liver and placenta from electively terminated pregnancies utilizing solid-phase extraction could determine exposure patterns during the second trimester.
UCT’s famous Clean Screen® DAU was used to extract fentanyl and 18 additional compounds from whole blood samples. A fit-for-purpose method validation adapted from SWGTOX was performed by assessing the following criteria over five days: bias, precision, linear dynamic range, interferences and carryover.
While these compounds have been major players in a toxicological setting for quite some time, there still appears to be a generalized struggle to precipitate and extract them efficiently from whole blood. Not only is the ratio of acetonitrile to blood sample critical for proper precipitation of these highly protein-bound compounds, but also the speed in which it’s added along with the working temperature of the solvent at hand.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them – President John F. Kennedy
UCT has been featured in a SelectScience article, “Update on Water Analysis Methods” with recent release of streamlined EPA 1694 method: Analysis of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Water. Check Us Out Here!
UCT has consistently produced high quality and reproducible organosilicon products. That commitment was ensured through rigorous manufacturing and quality assurance programs. Today we are pleased to announce that the system’s upon which our quality is based have been rewarded.
In a recently published paper, Chromatographia, DOI 10.1007/s10337-014-2726-5, researchers at the University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil compared different sorbents in the QuEChERS technique. The article is titled, “Comparison of Different Sorbents in the QuEChERS Method for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Strawberries by LC–MS/MS.”
In the article ‘Dye-Doped Silica Nanoparticles as Efficient Labels for Glycans’ published in the Journal for Chemical Communications (supplementary information), The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CC05299J. UCT Specialties Product, PSX1050 – (3-Trimethoxysilyl)butylaldehyde – was used to isolate strains of Con A and E.Coli on lectin microarrays.
In a paper recently published, Polymer, 55 (2014) 1061 – 1069, the Dynamic Response of transiently trapped entanglements in polymer networks was studied.
In an article published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, VOL. 288, NO. 47, pp 34168 – 34180, November 22, 2013, Simandlova, et.al., UCT Specialties Product A0700, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, was used as a coating on the glass coverslips upon which mouse ES cells were grown and examined.
Kamruzzaman, et.al., developed a microfluidic chip that allowed the detection of L-phenylalanine in pharmaceutical and soft drink products. This work was reported inFood Chemistry, 135, (2012) 57 – 62.
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