Sample Preparation Protocol Speeds Determination of Water Toxins

Genevac has published an informative customer article that reviews the development of a new sample preparation method using its EZ-2 centrifugal evaporator to help simplify and accelerate the detection and quantitation of algal toxins in surface water.

Due to a warming global environment there has been a rise in occurrences of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes which can generate cyanotoxins. With surface water a major source of drinking water, the presence of cyano bacterial blooms pose a potential threat to human health.

Using Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) researchers have been able to improve the analytical method for determining cyanotoxins with improved analyte separation, sensitivity and increased speed of analysis. Unfortunately though, the commonly used solid-phase extraction (SPE) sample preparation technique for UPLC determination of cyanotoxins in surface water is very time consuming.

The article describes how direct solvent evaporation using a Genevac EZ-2 evaporator was evaluated and proven as an effective technique for reducing the lengthy sample preparation process and improving the efficiency of the UPLC analytical method. To download a copy of the ‘Detection and Quantification of Algal Toxins in Surface Water’ article please visit the Genevac website.

The EZ-2 centrifugal evaporator from Genevac uniquely combines high performance, versatility, ease-of-use and affordability making it the perfect workhorse system for environmental laboratories. The EZ-2 is designed to efficiently concentrate or completely dry samples. It is compatible with a wide selection of sample holders, enabling evaporation from common sample container formats including round-bottom flasks, tubes vials and microplates. Operating the EZ-2 is highly intuitive: just load your samples, select maximum safe temperature for samples, select solvent type and hit start. Offering unattended operation through a suite of pre-programmed methods, the compact evaporator requires no user training, even a beginner can competently use the system within 5 minutes.