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Introduced in 2003, the 'quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe' (QuEChERS) sample preparation approach has been widely adopted in many applications, particularly in chemical residue analysis of foods. Prior to QuEChERS, sample preparation generally entailed several time-consuming, labor-intensive, and reagent-excessive steps, but the commercialization at the time of powerful, cost-effective, benchtop gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem MS (LC-MS/MS) instruments enabled the implementation of the QuEChERS procedure. Despite analytical technologies continuing to improve over the last two decades, many laboratories are still using QuEChERS protocols developed for outdated instrumentation. Recently, QuEChERS has been updated into QuEChERSER (with 'efficient and robust' being added to the portmanteau) to better take advantage of the features provided by modern sample preparation and analytical techniques. Most notably, QuEChERSER is a 'mega-method' that covers a broader scope of polar and nonpolar analytes in diverse sample types. In this article, the new QuEChERSER approach and its advantages over QuEChERS are explained., Twenty years ago, the 'quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe' (QuEChERS) approach for sample preparation was developed by Anastassiades and Lehotay at the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research [...]

Low-pressure gas chromatography (LPGC) has been known to be advantageous compared to standard GC since Giddings first described the concept in 1962, but a practical solution for its use eluded [...]

Nitrofurazone usage in food‐producing animals is prohibited in most countries, including the United States. Regulatory agencies regularly monitor its use in domestic, export/import animals' food products by measuring the semicarbazide (SEM) metabolite as a biomarker of nitrofurazone exposure. However, the use of SEM is controversial because it is also produced in food naturally and thus gives false positive results. A cyano‐metabolite, 4‐cyano‐2‐oxobutyraldehyde semicarbazone (COBS), is proposed as an alternate specific marker of nitrofurazone to distinguish nitrofurazone from treated or untreated animals. A synthetic method was developed to produce COBS via metallic hydrogenation of nitrofurazone. The product was isolated and characterized by one‐ and two‐dimensional nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (NMR) experiments, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), and mass spectrometry. The developed synthetic procedure was further extended to synthesize isotopically labeled 4‐[13C]‐cyano‐2‐oxo‐ [2, 3, 4‐13C3]‐butyraldehyde semicarbazone. Labeled COBS is useful as an internal standard for its quantification in food‐producing animals. Thus, the developed method provides a possibility for its commercial synthesis to procure COBS. This is the first synthesis of the alternate specific marker metabolite of nitrofurazone for possible usage in regulatory analysis to solve a real‐world problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional chromatographic peak integration functions rely on complex software and settings, but untrustworthy integrations still routinely lead to time-consuming manual review and reintegrations. Current rugged gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) [...]