ROMIL-SpS^™ Super Purity Solvents
high purity solvents for instrumental analysis

  Key Applications Overview

GC, Capillary GC and Pesticide Residue Analysis
Low non-volatile residue levels due to glass distillation make ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents suitable for simple analysis of pesticide and other extraction residues. The solvent may be concentrated by evaporation and will be free from interfering chromatographic signals with flame ionisation and electron capture detectors.
Test for Pesticide Residue Analysis:
The solvent is evaporated to dryness and the residue dissolved in high purity 2,2,4-trimethylpentane. A gas chromatogram is then run with ECD detection to determine no interfering peaks greater in area than that obtained by 5 ng/LT lindane (in the neat solvent) within the range of retention times from lindane (shortest) to 4,4’-DDT (longest).

Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy
Excellent optical purity with a smooth spectral curve renders ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents suitable for all UV applications. For work at short wavelengths we recommend that the solvent is nitrogen purged before use and that partially used solvents are stored under an inert atmosphere.
Test for Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy:
The solvent is first purged with dry nitrogen for 5-10 minutes. UV Transmission values are then measured in a 10mm quartz cell using ROMIL Code H950 Water SpS as reference.

Infra-Red Spectroscopy
Clear infra-red windows in many ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents give a wide choice of suitable solvents. To aid the analyst in selection a typical spectrum of any solvent is available on request.
Test for Infra-Red Spectroscopy:
An infra-red spectrum is matched against that of a reference standard to check for identity and to verify the absence of uncharacteristic absortion bands.

Fluorescence Spectroscopy
A very low fluorescence background makes ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents suitable for this useful technique as well as fluorescence detection in HPLC.
Test for Fluorescence Spectroscopy:
Fluorescence background is less than that given by a 2 ppb solution of quinine.

Non-aqueous Titrations
Both volumetric and coulometric techniques are catered for by the very low water levels in ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents. Also suitable for electrochemical detection in HPLC. See also our range of ROMIL Hi-Dry^® Karl Fischer reagents and anhydrous solvents which take the concept of dryness and its determination one stage further.

Trace Element Analysis
Metallic impurities in ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents are typically in the parts per billion range making them suitable for a wide variety of trace metal applications including the increasingly important area of environmental monitoring. Typical uncontrolled elemental impurity levels at time of manufacture are given for a number of solvents. Note that concentrations of some elements, particularly Ca, Si, K, Na, B, Al, Mg, Mn will increase over time due to storage in glass bottles.

Combinatorial Chemistry and Organic Synthesis
In combinatorial chemistry large numbers of compounds are rapidly synthesised in minute quantities for screening for biological or catalytic activity. Solvent impurities can produce erroneous results and make difficult the identification of new leads. ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents, being chemically pure, thus facilitate the efficient interpretation of combinatorial libraries. Furthermore, many organic and organometallic synthetic methods specify a dry solvent as the reaction medium. The exceptional dryness exhibited by ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents allows synthetic chemists to avoid the hazardous and time-consuming drying of solvents in the laboratory prior to use. See also the ROMIL Hi-Dry^® anhydrous solvents that feature even lower water levels.

Liquid Scintillation Counting
Cocktails may be made with confidence since the relevant ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents feature low quenching impurities and exhibit low background counts due to manufacture from petrochemical feedstocks.

Molecular Biology
Although many ROMIL-SpS^™ solvents are suitable for use in molecular biology we have found that the purity constraints can be different for this area of science. To answer the specific needs of biochemists and molecular biologists we have available a number of solvents available as a separate ROMIL-BiO^™ grade detailed in a separate section.