“Advances in Separation Science” The Chromatographic Society Spring Symposium 2011

As delegates weaved their way through leafy West Sussex on the morning of 11th May it was a bright sunny day. These were gloomy times though for R&D in major UK pharma but to all intents and purposes it was just like any other ChromSoc Spring Symposium at a major pharmaceutical site. There was a buzz in the air with just over 100 delegates attending and lively networking taking place in the exhibition area (15 exhibitors and/or sponsors: Waters (Gold Sponsors), Agilent Technologies, ARC Sciences, Chemputeam SA, Chiral Technologies, Crawford Scientific, Dionex (UK), Dynamic Extractions, Gilson Scientific, Hichrom, International Labmate, Sigma Aldrich, Thermo Fisher Scientific, TTP LabTech, VWR International) as everyone eagerly anticipated the next day-and-a-half’s proceedings. The theme was “Advances in Separation Science” but given the nature of the venue the emphasis was on advances in separation science apertaining to early Drug Discovery.

The show began with the heavy artillery up front. ChromSoc Martin Medallist, Professor Wolfgang Lindner (University of Vienna, Austria) gave the opening lecture on “Enantiomer Separations with Chiral Ion Exchangers, a Unique Class of Chiral Columns”. Professor Lindner began with an elegant philosophical discourse on.........