The 2025 Short Course registration is now closed. Thank you for your interest. 
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Preliminary Program: 

A Beginner’s Guide to Multidimensional Chromatography 
Instructors: Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto, Katelynn Perrault Uptmor, Dwight Stoll, Petr Vozka 

Course Description 
So...you want to do multidimensional chromatography? If you are getting started in the field using either liquid or gas chromatography, you’re in the right place. This course will cover a brief history and introduction to both multidimensional gas chromatography and multidimensional liquid chromatography. Discussion will also include basic system components and data handling strategies to apply after acquiring your data. A hands-on portion of the course will also include familiarization with common system components and consumables for both GC and LC, as well as the opportunity to use a commercial GC×GC instrument. 

Target Participants 
This course is intended to be an initial touchpoint for those who are looking to explore multidimensional chromatography as a new option/capability, or who might be using it for the first time. The course is intended for new users to obtain a background on the techniques as a primer to the workshop.  Advanced topics will not be discussed. 

Course Logistics 
Morning Session (8:30 AM – 12:30 PM): Pentahotel Liège, Bd de la Sauvenière 100, 4000 Liège 
Afternoon Session (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM): University of Liège Sart Tilman Campus, Quartier Agora, Allée du Six Août 11, 4000 Liège 

Lunch and coffee will be provided. Transportation to/from the university for the afternoon session will be organized for the group.  

Cost 
A $50 fee is required to reserve a spot in the course. 20 seats are available. An expression of interest form will be available to indicate interest in a seat within the course. On November 1st, participants will be informed about seat availability and the payment process will be communicated. 

Outline (Total Time ~ 4 hrs) 
Part I (1 hr) – History, Terminology, Fundamental Concepts 
  1. Brief history of the development of multidimensional separations 
  2. Terminology 
  3. Fundamental Concepts 
    1. In what ways are multidimensional separations useful for analytical chemistry / measurement science? 
    2. First and second separations should be orthogonal / complementary 
    3. Fast second dimension separations are important to avoid undersampling 
    4. Structured chromatograms can provide chemical insight and facilitate data interpretation 
    5. Highlights of an example data processing workflow – from raw data to actionable information  
Break (15 min) 
Part II (1.25 hr) Introduction to Multidimensional Gas Chromatography 
  1. Method basics 
    1. Column selection 
    2. Method parameters 
    3. Carrier gas choices 
    4. Detector considerations 
  2. Modulator selection with a focus on current market options 
    1. Thermal modulators 
    2. Flow modulators 
    3. Other commercial options 
  3. Method development made simple 
  4. Data preprocessing and initial handling 
Break (15 min) 
Part III (1.25 hr) Introduction to Multidimensional Liquid Chromatography 
  1. Modes of multidimensional separation commonly used with LC 
    1. Heartcut 
    2. Multiple heartcut / selective comprehensive 
    3. Fully comprehensive 
  2. Interfaces used for multidimensional LC (i.e., the hardware that does the transfer from first to second dimension) 
  3. Common use cases of multidimensional LC illustrated using examples from industry and academic research 
    1. Evaluating peak purity 
    2. Unknown identification via multidimensional and MS or NMR detection 
    3. Multi-stage separation with analyte transformation between stages 
    4. Multi-attribute methods 
    5. Making complete analysis of moderately complex samples attainable in a reasonable analysis time 
    6. Digging deeper – comprehensive separations for comprehensive analysis 
  4. Introduction to method development strategies 
Part IV (15 min) Wrap-up and Q&A 

Travel to University of Liege (30 min) 

Lunch (45 min) 

Part V (3 hours)  

Participants will have the opportunity to familiarize with a variety of GC and LC components used for multidimensional systems including: 
LC: Interface, valves, columns, acquisition software 
GC: Detector components, inlet components, columns, cutting tools, column connectors, source components 

Participants will have the opportunity to inject basic samples on a LECO Peg 4D and LECO Peg BT 4D CF system, and to interact with 2D LC software setup.