14th International Symposium on Hyphenated Techniques in Chromatography and Separation Technology - Programme

HTC-14 Conference Program — Executive Summary

Significance of the topic

The HTC-14 programme presents a concentrated snapshot of contemporary advances in hyphenated and multidimensional separation science, with a clear focus on combining chromatography with high-resolution and orthogonal detection methods. These developments are crucial for addressing the growing complexity of samples encountered in petrochemical analysis, biopharmaceutical characterisation, environmental monitoring, food safety, and clinical/forensic applications. Improved separation power, sensitivity and specificity allow laboratories to resolve co-eluting species, reduce sample preparation, and support regulatory and R&D demands across industry and academia.

Objectives and overview of the programme

The programme aims to showcase methodological innovations, instrumentation advances, and practical workflows across multidimensional GC and LC, SFC, ion mobility spectrometry, and hyphenated MS techniques. Structured sessions cover foundational theory (peaks, column behaviour, thermostatting), new separative formats (LC×LC, GC×GC, heart-cut 2D approaches, SFC), detection advances (high-resolution MS, Orbitrap, TOF, QqQ, IMS), sample preparation/microsampling, chemometrics and method development strategies. Keynote and plenary lectures frame state-of-the-art challenges while oral/poster contributions demonstrate applied examples in petrochemical, food, environmental, and biopharmaceutical contexts.

Methodology and programme structure

The conference combines plenary/keynote lectures, technical tutorials, oral communications, young-entrant short talks, and poster flash sessions. Sessions are thematically grouped to emphasise:

• Multidimensional separations (comprehensive and heart-cut GC×GC and LC×LC; theory and applications)
• Hyphenation strategies (LC-MS, LC×LC-MS, GC-MS, GC×GC-TOFMS; interfaces and sources)
• Ionization and mass spectrometry innovations (soft electron ionisation, SESI, high-resolution MS, Orbitrap, FT-ICR approaches)
• Emerging detectors and coupling techniques (ion mobility, FTIR, low-field NMR, ICP-MS coupling to AF4, SEC-MALS)
• Sample preparation and microsampling methods relevant for bioanalysis and clinical laboratories
• Method development, chemometrics and automation (including Bayesian approaches)

Instrumentation used (as cited in the programme)

The programme explicitly references a broad range of instruments and detection platforms. Representative systems include:

• Gas chromatography: comprehensive GC×GC platforms, flow-modulated and heart-cut setups
• Mass spectrometry: TOF-MS, high-resolution TOF/HR-TOFMS, Orbitrap, FT-ICR MS, triple quadrupole (QqQ), quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF)
• Ion mobility: drift-tube ion mobility coupled with LC and TOF
• Liquid chromatography: UHPLC, nano-UHPLC, LC×LC (comprehensive and heart-cut), HILIC, RPLC
• Supercritical fluid chromatography: UPC2 and SFC-MS coupling
• Separation hybrids: AF4-ICP-MS, SEC-MALS, SFE-SFC-MS
• Sources and interfaces: secondary electrospray ionization (SESI), soft electron ionisation, liquid-junction CE/MS, nano-ESI
• Other detectors: FTIR, vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy, low-field NMR, evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD)

Key themes, highlights and discussion

Several recurring themes emerged from the programme and reflect current priorities in separation science:

• Multidimensional separations are maturing from proof-of-concept to routine application. Presentations addressed theoretical foundations (resolution optimization, peak shape and kinetics), practical implementations (heart-cutting vs comprehensive modes), and strategies to manage dilution and sensitivity losses in 2D workflows.
• Hyphenation with high-resolution MS and IMS is driving enhanced characterisation of complex samples, especially for proteomics, biopharmaceuticals and petroleomics. Talks highlighted the complementary roles of Orbitrap/FT-ICR and TOF platforms for specificity and mass accuracy.
• SFC and UPC2 received renewed attention as versatile separation tools that can bridge polarity ranges and offer complementary selectivity to LC and GC, particularly for chiral and lipophilic analytes.
• Innovations in sample preparation (microsampling, SPME, low-volume extraction, in-line digestion, magnetic nanoparticle immobilized enzymes) aim to reduce matrix effects, lower sample volume needs and streamline workflows for clinical and bioanalytical labs.
• Detection advancements include soft ionisation techniques to preserve molecular ions, post-column refocusing to mitigate chromatographic dilution, and combinations with spectroscopic detectors (FTIR, vacuum-UV) to add orthogonal chemical information.
• Method development is increasingly supported by chemometrics and automated/bayesian strategies to manage large data sets and accelerate robust method optimization.

Main results and implications from sessions (summary)

While the programme lists presentations rather than full experimental datasets, overall implications are clear:

• Comprehensive 2D methods (LC×LC, GC×GC) deliver much higher peak capacity and enable resolving analytes masked in 1D separations; however, practical implementation requires careful attention to transfer, modulation, and detector compatibility.
• Heart-cutting 2D approaches offer pragmatic trade-offs between sensitivity and capacity, and are promoted where target quantitation of critical components is required.
• High-resolution MS and IMS provide improved annotation, alignment and feature deconvolution in complex matrices, enhancing confidence in identification workflows.
• SFC and hybrid technologies expand the accessible chemical space and can reduce the need for extensive sample prep in some matrices.

Benefits and practical applications

Adoption of the highlighted methods supports multiple practical goals:

• Improved identification and quantification in complex matrices (petroleomics, breath analysis, food contaminants, biological fluids).
• Enhanced biopharmaceutical characterisation (intact protein separations, glycoform profiling, ADC analysis) by combining orthogonal separations with MS.
• Reduced sample preparation and higher throughput in regulated environments through robust hyphenated workflows and microsampling.
• Better trace-level detection in environmental and forensic contexts via large-volume injection strategies, heart-cutting 2D-LC and sensitive MS sources.

Future trends and possibilities

Based on the programme content, expected near- to mid-term trends include:

• Tighter integration of high-resolution MS, ion mobility and multidimensional separations for routine complex-sample workflows, including automated feature annotation pipelines.
• Wider uptake of SFC/UPC2 for complementary selectivity, especially where broad polarity ranges or chiral separations are needed.
• Advances in interfaces and detectors (soft ionisation, VUV, FTIR coupling) to provide richer orthogonal information and reduce reliance on single-detection paradigms.
• Continued development of micro- and nano-scale sample preparation and separation hardware to enable low-volume, high-sensitivity assays for clinical and in vivo monitoring.
• Increased application of machine learning and Bayesian frameworks for method development, peak deconvolution and automated data interpretation.

Conclusion

HTC-14 captures a field in active transition: multidimensional and hyphenated separations are evolving from specialist research tools into more accessible, application-ready solutions. The conference emphasised the need for balanced system design—matching separation format, modulation/transfer strategy and detector capability—to deliver actionable information for industry and research. Cross-disciplinary integration (separations, ionisation science, high-resolution MS, chemometrics) will continue to define progress and expand the real-world impact of chromatographic science.

References

The submitted programme lists talks, tutorials and posters but does not provide a bibliography or specific literature citations. No formal references were provided within the programme document.