The OPCW Technical Secretariat will hold an online analytical skills development course in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, India, from 6 to 10 December 2021. The online analytical skills development course will accommodate a maximum of 20 participants from Member States with economies that are developing or in transition.
Aim
The aims of the course are to:
- Assist qualified analytical chemists from Member States with economies that are developing or in transition in acquiring further experience and practical knowledge;
- Facilitate the analysis of chemicals related to national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention;
- Enhance national capacities in these Member States by offering online training in analytical chemistry to personnel from industry, academic institutions, and government laboratories;
- Facilitate the adoption of good laboratory practices; and broaden the pool of human resources from which National Authorities and the Secretariat can draw in the future.
Content
This training programme is aimed at offering theoretical and experimental knowledge in the analysis of chemicals related to the Convention. The course includes basic lectures and demonstrations of sample preparation of environmental samples and analysis using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques.
Lecture topics include:
- An introduction to Convention-related chemicals;
- Nomenclature;
- Classical sample preparation techniques for the extraction of Convention-related chemicals from environmental samples;
- Clean-up procedures;
- Derivatisation procedures;
- Principles and components of GC and various detectors;
- The theory of GC-MS under electron ionisation (EI) and chemical ionisation (CI);
- Automated mass spectral deconvolution and identification system (AMDIS) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) searching;
- GC-retention index (GC-RI) calculation;
- Introduction to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques;
- The OPCW proficiency testing programme and challenges;
- The OPCW reporting mechanism.
The demonstrations (live-streaming and videos) include the operation of GC with nitrogen phosphorous and flame photometric detectors; GC-MS under EI and CI conditions; sample preparation of organic, water, and soil samples; sample analysis by GC and GC-MS; data analysis by AMDIS; GC-RI calculation; and data reporting in accordance with the OPCW proficiency testing programme.