Appropriate technology in analytical separations

“适当的技术”一词是由弗里茨·舒马赫于1973年在“小即是美：经济学就好像人很重要”一书中创造的。“适当的技术”描述了一种在对地球有限的资源影响最小的情况下满足人类需求的方式。因此，这个术语经常与可持续发展和绿色化学等术语捆绑在一起。然而，这个术语同样适用于分析实验室，在那里，我们也面临着有限的资本预算和有限的人员配备。我的研究旨在扩大分离技术的能力，如高效液相色谱(HPLC)。离子色谱(IC)和毛细管电泳法(CE)应用范围更广，同时保持灵活性并将费用和复杂性降至最低。他说，我的团队采取的方法是发展对方法学的基本物理化学理解。然后，我们利用这种理解来改进甚至简化分析方法。我们最近工作的一个例子是：对电泳流动性的基本理解；一类基于支撑磷脂双层膜的自组装涂层，用于防止蛋白质在CE中的吸附；基于廉价二极管激光和廉价发光二极管的灵敏荧光检测器；比传统方法快20倍的IC方法；以及高效低压IC方法。其中许多努力将继续下去。本提案中引入的新领域包括：电导光谱探针；电开关离子交换；以及基于微生物电迁移的分析方法。

The term "Appropriate Technology" was coined in 1973 by Fritz Schumacher in "Small is Beautiful: economics as if people matter".  Appropriate Technology describes a way of providing for human needs with the least impact on the Earth's finite resources.  Thus the term is often tied to terms such as sustainable development and Green chemistry.  However, the term applies equally well to the analytical laboratory where we too face finite capital budgets and limited staffing.  My research seeks to extend the capabilities of separation techniques such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ion chromatography (IC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) to a broader range of applications while maintaining flexibility and minimizing expense and complexity.    The approach my group takes is to develop a fundamental physico-chemical understanding of the methodology.  We then use that understanding to enhance and even simplify the analytical methods.  Examples of our recent work are the development of: a fundamental understanding of electrophoretic mobility; a class of self-assembled coatings based on supported phospholipid bilayers for preventing protein adsorption in CE; sensitive fluorescence detectors based on inexpensive diode lasers and dirt-cheap light emitting diodes; IC methods that are 20-times faster than conventional methods; and high efficiency low pressure IC methodologies.  Many of these efforts will continue.  New areas introduced in this proposal include: conductivity spectrum probe; electrically switched ion exchange; and analytical methodologies based on electromigration of microbes.