Do It Faster, Makes Us Stronger – Fast GC
Benoit Roger, Ph. D., & Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste We have read many times on various oils-oriented Facebook groups indications that gas chromatographic columns should be as long as possible to achieve proper separation. Similarly, it is often stated that short analysis runs negatively impact the quality of data obtained. And under the most […]
Ethylvanillin and you
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc, chimiste Essential oils and other plant-derived fragrant extracts are worth quite a lot of money. It so happens that, in order to boost profits, unscrupulous people alter oils in various ways. This “Adulterants and you” series is there to introduce you to some of the adulterations we encounter. This is because […]
Scientific Literature – What is it? (Part 2/2)
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste We have just discussed the various types of scientific literature, and their peer-reviewing process. All in all, peer-review is a huge step toward ensuring that quality results are published and discussed within and outside the scientific community. Alas, just as with any activity involving human beings, the process has its flaws. As […]
Scientific Literature – What is it? (Part 1 of 2)
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste When discussing scientific topics, it is important to go beyond opinions and hearsay if the objective is to learn something valid or reach a sensible conclusion. As such, the source of the elements submitted to the discussion becomes extremely important. For the best and the worst, we live in an era […]
Synthetic Oranger and You
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., Chimiste – Popularization Essential oils are worth quite a lot of money. It so happens that, in order to boost profits, unscrupulous people alter oils in various ways. This “Adulterants and you” series is there to introduce you to some of the adulterations we encounter. This is because not all of […]
Quality Control 101. III. Is Carbon 14 Testing a Reliable Method to Detect Adulteration?
Alexis St-Gelais – Popularization Our recent clarification about our usage of “synthetic” and “natural” to describe molecules shed light on one particular way to define synthetics, based on the origin of the building blocks (petroleum or fresh organic molecules from natural sources). We wanted to discuss this aspect further, since it is deeply tied to […]
Natural vs Synthetic: Clarifying the Terms
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste – Popularization Laboratoire PhytoChemia is a business, and as any other business, we do use concepts that are commonly understood the same way by all our employees. Such is the case for the “natural” and “synthetic” designations for molecules we encounter in our analyzes. Taking a critical step back, these […]
Isobornyl Cyclohexanol and You
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., Chimiste – Popularization Essential oils are worth quite a lot of money. It so happens that, in order to boost profits, unscrupulous people alter oils in various ways. This “Adulterants and you” series is there to introduce you to some of the adulterations we encounter. This is because not all of […]
You Said Polar?
Alexis St-Gelais – Popularization Polar: I am not reffering to the winter cold that has settled around here in Saguenay a few weeks ago… I am rather speaking of a concept that can be helpful to understand many chemical phenomena, to which I will certainly plently refer to in the future on this blog. Polarity […]
Quality Control 101, Part II. How to read a GC report
Hubert Marceau, chimiste – Popularization As more and more consumers are aware of the existence of essential oil adulteration, distributors are starting to offer GC reports with their oils. We believe that this is a good step for multiple reasons. It shows that the company has made its best efforts to offer to its customers […]