Early Evolution of Gas Chromatography in East Germany. Part II: The First Four Symposia 2004, 59, 275–282

L. S. Ettre1,&, H. G. Struppe2 1

Department of Chemical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] (correspondence address: P.O. Box 6274 Bridgeport, CT 06606, USA) 2 Institut fu¨r Nichtklassische Chemie an der Universita ¨ t Leipzig e.V. Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany

Received: 1 December 2003 / Accepted: 15 December 2003 Online publication: 26 February 2004

Abstract In this, the second part of the series, we discuss the programs of the International GC Symposia organized in 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1963, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Besides the most important papers presented, the instruments and accessories shown at the exhibits organized in conjunction with the individual symposia are also mentioned.

Keywords Gas chromatography Symposia Associations

Introduction Part One of this series [1] discussed the beginnings of gas chromatography in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), the development of instruments and instrument production, and the establishment of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft fu¨r Gas-Chromatographie (GC Working Group) that was involved among others in the organization of periodic international symposia. These are of interest because they show how GC became established in this part of Europe and also reflect the political situation influencing contact with other scientists, both within the Eastern Block and from countries in Western Europe. The first four symposia were held in the Leipzig area; in 1965 the series moved

Historical DOI: 10.1365/s10337-004-0229-5 0009-5893/04/03

to (East) Berlin to emphasize its national character, however, effective organization remained in the hands of officers of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft from Leipzig. The six symposia are listed in Table 1, which shows the approximate number of participants and the number of papers presented. It is particularly interesting to investigate the origin of the speakers (Table 2). The program of the first symposium held in 1958 included only three foreign speakers, participating by invitation. With the second symposium (1959), the number of foreign participants started to increase, and speakers from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Hungary represented an increasing proportion of the scientific program. Western European participation was small and remained

fairly constant for the period discussed in this paper. Scientists from East Germany were always restricted in foreign travel, particularly to the west and in general, this restriction was more severe than in the other countries of the Eastern Block. Nobody could participate at the First International GC Symposium held in 1956, in London, and the 1958 Amsterdam Symposium was only visited by R. Kaiser, as the sole participant from the GDR. In 1960 a delegation consisting of H.-P. Angele´ (Leipzig), D. Obst (East Berlin) and H. Rotzsche (Radebeul bei Dresden) was permitted to travel to the symposium held in Edinburgh and there, Angele´ gave a brief report about the activities of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft [2]. However, in the following years, particularly after the erection of the Berlin Wall, the restrictions became even more severe. Thus, while in 1962, M. Mohnke and W. Saffert from the Leipzig Institutes and H. Rotzsche of the Silicone Institute in Radebeul submitted reports on their original work to the International GC Symposium scheduled for Hamburg, permission was denied them to personally participate at the meeting. It was typical of the situation that when in the fall of 1967, the new journal Chromatographia (published in West Germany) invited H. Rotzsche and H.G. Struppe from the GDR to became members of the editorial board, they were not permitted to accept. Also, in 1968, when a GC Working Group was established in West Germany and its secretary, Dr. H. Kelker, offered

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Table 1. The symposia organized by the East-German Gas Chromatography Working Group No.

Location

Date

No. of participants

No. of papers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Leipzig Bo¨hlen Schkopau Leuna (East) Berlin (East) Berlin

October 9–11, 1958 October 14–16, 1959 May 16–19, 1961 May 28–31, 1963 May 18–21, 1965 May 14–18, 1968

160 240 380 400 450 500

18 30 34 45 63 65

Table 2. Distribution of the papers presented at the symposia organized by the East-German GC Working Group Country

1. 1958 Leipzig

2. 1959 Bo¨hlen

3. 1961 Schkopau

4. 1963 Leuna

5. 1965 Berlin

6. 1968 Berlin

German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

15 83 %

14 47%

14 41%

13 29%

19 30%

15 23%

Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)

– –

– –

3 9%

3 7%

3 5%

11 17%

Soviet Union Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland Romania Bulgaria Yugoslavia

– 1 – – – – –

2 8 1 1 – – –

3 6 5 – – – –

11 10 6 – – – –

16 13 5 – 3 1 –

12 9 3 1 – – 1

12 40%

14 41%

27 60%

38 60%

26 40%

– – 2 1 – – –

– 1 1 – – – –

– – – – 3 – –

1 3 3 – 2 2 2

Total socialist block (without the GDR)

1 6%

Austria Netherlands United Kingdom Italy France Switzerland Belgium

1 – 1 – – – –

1 1 2 – – – –

Total Western Europe (without the FRG)

2 11 %

4 13%

Total

18

30

Table 3. Abbreviations used for countries Country

Abbreviation

Austria A Belgium B Bulgaria BG Czechoslovakia CS France F German Democratic GDR Republic (East Germany) Federal Republic of FRG Germany (West Germany) Hungary H Italy I The Netherlands NL Poland PL Sweden S Switzerland CH United Kingdom UK Yugoslavia Y

cooperation with the East German Arbeitsgemeinschaft, this was rejected. Thus, the symposia organized in East Germany presented the only opportunity for East German chromatographers to

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3 9% 34

2 4% 45

3 5% 63

13 20%

possibility to read them regularly. Also, information included in an advertisement is always limited and does not help to learn more about the instrument. Therefore, the symposia held in East Germany were always accompanied by an instrument exhibit, to which the leading western instrument companies were also invited. They slowly started to participate, displaying their newest products (with the hope that import/export restrictions would eventually be relaxed). Thus, at these symposia the participants from Eastern Europe had a unique opportunity to see at least some of the new gas chromatographs produced in Western Europe and the United States and discuss their features with the companies’ representatives. After this introduction let us deal with the individual symposia and their programs. Our aim is to mention the most important presentations on the practice of GC and particularly point out those that are related to instrument development. Foreign speakers will be identified by the place (city) they worked and the country of origin. For this, the abbreviations listed in Table 3 will be used. In this, the second part of our series, we deal with the first four symposia; the 1965 and 1968 symposia will be the subject of Part Three.

The 1958 Symposium

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meet prominent scientists from western Europe, hear their newest results and exchange ideas with them. These international symposia were important for one additional reason. As mentioned in Part One of our paper, the import of instruments into East Germany was severely restricted; at the same time western companies also faced restrictions in exporting into countries east of the ‘‘Iron Curtain’’. Some of the instruments manufactured in the west were exhibited at the annual International Industrial Fair held in Leipzig; however, only a few chromatographers in the GDR had the possibility to visit the Fair. All the others knew about the instruments produced in Western Europe and the USA only from announcements in the western scientific journals; however, these journals were available only in some major central libraries, and industrial chemists had little

Around 160 people participated at the first symposium held on October 9-10, 1958, in the auditorium of the institute complex, in Leipzig (Fig. 1). Originally two foreign guests were invited, with long experience in gas chromatography: Erika Cremer of the University of Innsbruck (A) and Jaroslav Jana´k of the Laboratory of Gas Analysis, in Brno (CS). Unfortunately Jana´k had to cancel his participation at the last minute and therefore, his close collaborator, K. Tesarˇ ik, took his place. At the last minute the organizers also succeeded in inviting D.H. Desty (British Petroleum, Sunbury on Thames, UK), probably the best known Western European scientist active in GC, to participate at the symposium. The symposium was opened by Professor E. Leibnitz (Fig. 2) and a total of 18 papers were presented. From the foreign visitors Cremer lectured on some theoretical questions related to GC while Tesarˇ ik spoke on gas adsorption chromatography, reporting on their activities

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in Brno. The highlight of the symposium was the lecture by Desty. The Leipzig Symposium was just preceded by the inaugural meeting of the (British) Gas Chromatography Discussion Group, held on September 23, in London; at that meeting Desty first reported on his results with a self-build gas chromatograph incorporating a flame-ionization detector and capillary columns made of copper tubing. In Leipzig Desty repeated his lecture and demonstrated the power of capillary GC by showing two chromatograms – the complete separation of C7 paraffins and of the three xylene isomers. In addition he also described in details the features of his instrument; in fact this was the first time that split injection onto capillary columns was detailed (Fig. 3). This paper initiated immediate extensive research in Leipzig on both capillary columns and the flame-ionization detector. The Leipzig Symposium was the first opportunity for workers from various East German laboratories to publicly describe their experience in the application of GC in a number of fields, ranging from rare gas analysis (G. Gnauck, East Berlin) to the analysis of petroleum products (H. Ko¨gler, Bo¨hlen), and from the separation of C4 hydrocarbons (W. Luchsinger, Schkopau) to the investigation of fatty acids and alcohols (V. Vasilescu, Rodleben). In addition J. Fischer of the Bo¨hlen chemical complex described a gas chromatograph developed for the automated analysis of fractions from distillation columns. Ten papers originated from the research institutes in Leipzig, mainly dealing with instrumental and system developments we have already mentioned in the first part of our report [1]. R. Kaiser described his thermal-conductivity detector and M. Kuhl dealt with the design of its electronics. H. Bredel reported on his experience with the flame (thermocouple) detector built according to the description of R.P.W. Scott [3]; H.-K. Bothe discussed his argon-ionization detector and H. Hrapia outlined the automation of the nitrometer readout of the Jana´k-type gas chromatograph. Various methodological questions were discussed by C.-H. Heft, H. Holzha¨user, H. Hrapia and H.G. Struppe. In addition, based on recent literature R. Kaiser surveyed the application fields of GC (Fig. 4). During the symposium a small instrument exhibit was also held. At that Historical

time no commercial instrument was yet produced in the GDR and no western instrument company could participate at the Symposium. Therefore, members of the Leipzig institutes displayed their selfbuilt systems and components, and demonstrated their use. On the evening of the first day of the Symposium a reception was held in the historical Auerbachs Keller, the restaurant mentioned in Goethe’s Faust, as a favorite gathering place of students from medieval times. Subsequent symposia also always had some social events in their program, in order to provide opportunity for informal contact of the participants. The participants of the symposium received the preprints of the papers [4]. After the meeting the 18 presented papers, together with some discussion remarks, were published as a separate issue of the periodical of the (East) German Academy of Sciences [5].

Fig. 1. The main building of the research institute complex in Leipzig, in the Permoserstrasse, where the 1958 Symposium was held

The 1959 Symposium This symposium was held October 14–16, 1959, in the Kulturpalast of the chemical complex in Bo¨hlen. About 240 chromatographers participated at the meeting, among them 12 from the Soviet Union and other Eastern Block countries, and four from Western Europe. A total of 30 papers were presented at the Symposium. From the principal foreign speakers A.I.M. Keulemans (Eindhoven, NL) presented a survey of the newest developments in GC (Fig. 5), R.S. Evans (Cambridge, UK) summarized the status of GC in England and the USA, and E. Cremer (Innsbruck, A) discussed the use of GC to measure physical constants. From the Soviet Union A.A. Zhukhovitskii (Moscow) dealt with questions concerning quantitative analysis (Fig. 6), while A.V. Kiselev (Moscow) spoke about surface modification of silica gels and their use in gas adsorption chromatography (Fig. 7). (The text of Kiselev’s presentation was published only two years later in the 1961 Proceedings, as Part I of a more complex paper). Eight of papers were given by chromatographers from Czechoslovakia. Among others J. Jana´k (Brno) presented two papers, one on the GC analysis of non-volatile substances and the other on the statistical precision of various ways to establish peak area; also, O. Grubner (Prague) discussed questions related to the comChromatographia 2004, 59, March (No. 5/6)

Fig. 2. Professor E. Leibnitz is opening the 1958 Symposium

pressibility correction factor of James and Martin. (It is interesting to note that in the last decade, this question has again become the subject of extensive discussion.) Separate reports were presented on the activities of the Central Research Institute for Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (by P. Fejes and A. Petho¨, Budapest) and the Polish Petroleum Research Institute (by J.J. Glogoczowsky, Cracow). Among the East German speakers Kaiser and Struppe summarized their first experiences with capillary GC and G. Gnauck (East Berlin) spoke on preparative GC of rare gases; S. Rennhak (Leuna) reported on the results of the analysis of nitrogen-containing organic

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chromatograph. Two western participants also displayed their products: W.G. Pye & Co. exhibited the argon gas chromatograph and Dr. Virus KG (a small West German company) showed its ‘‘Gasofract’’ laboratory gas chromatograph.

The 1961 Symposium

Fig. 3. D.H. Desty lecturing at the 1958 Symposium. On the left is H.-P. Angele´ acting as his interpreter

Fig. 4. R. Kaiser lecturing at the 1958 Symposium

compounds, H. Rotzsche (Radebeul) outlined the possibilities of the GC analysis of fluorocarbons, R. Aust and K.-H. Heft (Schkopau) discussed the determination of impurities in technical 1,1-dichloroethylene and V. Vasilescu (Rodleben) reported on the quantitative analysis of higher fatty acid methyl esters. In the field of instrumentation R.S. Evans (Cambridge, UK) described the so-called argon gas chromatograph of W.G. Pye & Co., employing the argonionization detector, while H.-K. Bothe (Leipzig) reported on a self-built argonionization detector. H. Holzha¨user (Leipzig) spoke about quantitative analysis with the flame-ionization detector

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and J. Frenzel (Dresden) used the FID for the detection of acetylene, present in concentrations at or below 2 ppm in liquid oxygen. J. Fischer (Bo¨hlen) reported on his experiences with the automated GC developed in Bo¨hlen for the control of distillation columns (Fig. 8), while electronic integration of peak area was the subject of the paper by M. Kuhl (Leipzig). Finally we should mention three papers dealing with what we call today, hyphenated systems. L. Sokol (Most, CS) discussed the combination of GC and IR spectroscopy and H. Miedlich (Schkopau) described the use of the URAS IR spectrometer as a detector for GC, while J. Juranek (Brno, CS) spoke about the combination of GC with colorimetric analysis, permitting the estimation of 10)6)10)7 vol% hydrocarbons in air. Again, the participants of the symposium received most of the papers as Preprints [6]; however, at this time no formal Proceedings was published after the symposium. As an introduction to the preprints R. Kaiser and H.G. Struppe discussed the situation with the German GC nomenclature and proposed the unification of various expressions and symbols, while H.-P. Angele´ and M. Hofmann (Leipzig) provided a literature survey discussing papers published in 1958 and 1959. During the symposium an instrument exhibition was again organized. In addition to the self-built systems this was the first time that the company of Willy Giede showed its Model GACH-21 gas

The symposium was held May 16–19, 1961, in the auditorium of Chemical Works BUNA, in Schkopau (Fig. 9). The number of participants was close to 380 from whom 18% came from outside the GDR. There were 34 papers in the original program: from these 14 Papers were from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, three from West Germany, and three from other western European countries. As before, a Preprints containing most of the papers was available to the participants [7]. Soon after the meeting a report about the meeting was published in two East German chemical journals [8, 9]; a few months later the full text of the papers and discussions was published as a separate issue of the periodical of the (East) German Academy of Sciences [10]. Among the most important contributions we should mention the papers of A.V. Kiselev and K.D. Shcherbakova (Moscow, SU), representing a continuation of their report presented at the 1959 Symposium (Fig. 10). Now they discussed the chemical and geometric modification of adsorbents (Parts II and III) and of the inner surface of glass capillaries (Part IV). This was probably the first thorough discussion in the chromatographic literature of the reaction of trimethylchlorosilane with the glass surface, creating a temperature-stable surface of trimethylsilyl groups, which in turn can be coated easily with silicone oils. (The full text of all four parts of their report was included in the Proceedings of the Symposium). Various theoretical questions were discussed by P. Fejes (Budapest, H), O. Grubner (Prague, CS), A. Petho¨ (Budapest) and H.G. Struppe (Leipzig), while G. Schay (Budapest) and his associates presented a detailed treatment of the determination of adsorption isotherms by GC. F. Drawert (Siebeldingen, FRG) outlined the technique of reaction gas chromatography in which the analytes are

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chemically modified in the chromatographic train into more volatile compounds. A version of this technique is pyrolysis - gas chromatography where the sample compounds are broken down into volatile fragments and two papers dealt with such investigations: C.E.R. Jones (Carshalton, UK) provided a general survey of the importance of this technique while J. Franc (Pardubice, CS) provided a number of examples from the field of complex aromatic compounds. Diverse application problems were the subject of a number of papers. W Kusy´ (Most, CS) spoke on the analysis of phenols, while F. Wolf and A. Losse (Wolfen) dealt with the analysis of vinyl compounds. The separation of fatty acids and alcohols was the subject of the paper of V. Vasilescu (Rodleben) and M. Sˇingliar (Nova´ky, CS) discussed the analysis of C4-C8 aldehydes and alcohols; K.-H. Heft and R. Aust (Schkopau) outlined the determination of trace impurities in styrene and acrylonitrile. On-column injection into capillary columns was utilized by H. Ko¨gler (Bo¨hlen) in the analysis of various gasoline samples; the data so obtained served as the basis of calculation of vapor pressures and the octane number. Instrumental developments were the subject of a number of papers. E. Bayer (Karlsruhe, FRG) discussed some new, highly selective stationary phases synthesized for GC and described a preparative gas chromatograph developed by his group at Karlsruhe Technical University (this instrument was also produced and marketed in the 1960s by the company Hupe & Busch, Karlsruhe). E. Gnauck (East Berlin) spoke about the possibility of using neon as the carrier gas; in a second paper he discussed the use of the argon-ionization detector for the analysis of permanent gases. J. Fischer (Bo¨hlen) continued to report on his experiences with the in-house developed automated GC first described at the 1958 symposium; it now was further improved by adding an automatic feed-back and control unit. H. Thielemann (Leipzig) utilized an automated buret (similar to the one used by James and Martin in their original work) for the detection of fatty acids and even for the analysis of neutral compounds: these were oxidized to CO2 prior to titration. M. Mohnke and M. Kuhl (Leipzig) reported on electromechanical and electronic systems used for peak area integration. Finally we Historical

Fig. 5. During the discussion at the 1959 Symposium. A.I.M. Keulemans (Eindhoven, NL) (left) and O. Grubner (Prague, CS) are standing at the table. On the left is E. Cremer (Innsbruck, A) who chaired the session. Left of Keulemans sits J. Jana´k (Brno, CS); between Keulemans and Grubner are E. Leibnitz (partly hidden), R. Kaiser and E. Smolkova´ (Prague, CS)

Fig. 6. A.A. Zhukhovitskii lecturing at the 1959 Symposium. The person standing behind him is the interpreter. At the front table are (left to right): R. Kaiser (Leipzig), M. Kubinova´ (Gottwaldov, CS), E. Smolkova´ (Prague, CS); opposite of Smolkova´ is J. Jana´k (Brno, CS)

should mention the paper of S. Matousˇ ek (Prague, CS) describing a breath analyzer based on GC. An instrument exhibition was again organized in conjunction with the symposium. Besides the two East-German companies (E. Zimmermann, Leipzig, and Willy Giede, East-Berlin) four western companies (W.G. Pye & Co., Cambridge, UK; Carlo Erba, Milano, I; Dr. Virus KG, Bonn, FRG; and the office of Beckman Instruments in Munich, FRG) also participated. Representatives Chromatographia 2004, 59, March (No. 5/6)

of Pye (R. Gittins), Carlo Erba (M. Levy), and Dr. Virus (G.v. WaldeyerHartz) also presented lectures on the design and performance of their instruments. Some of the exhibited foreign instruments could also be acquired by local laboratories (Fig. 11).

The 1963 Symposium This symposium was held May 28–31, 1963, in the Workers’ Clubhouse of the

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Fig. 7. During the discussion at the 1959 Symposium. R.S. Evans (Cambridge, UK) (left) and A.V. Kiselev (Moscow, SU) are standing; the persons sitting at the front table are (left to right) H.-J. Wehran (Leipzig), W. Luchsinger (Schkopau) and H.G. Struppe (Leipzig)

Fig. 8. E. Smolkova´ (Prague, CS) (right) and A.A. Zhukhovitskii (Moscow (SU) with J. Fischer (Bo¨hlen) (left) at the instrument exhibition during the 1959 Symposium

chemical complex in Leuna. Close to 400 people participated at the meeting, among them about 100 from outside the GDR (Fig. 12). The program listed a total of 45 papers, 13 of these by East German authors. While the number of speakers from Western Europe remained nearly constant, those from Eastern European countries more than doubled. Again Preprints of the papers was available to the participants [11], however, it contained the text of only 28 and detailed abstracts of four papers. Reports on the meeting were published not only in East German journals [12, 13] but – based on the Preprints – also in an American chromatography journal [14]. The

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Proceedings of the symposium containing 44 papers was published in the middle of 1964 as a separate issue of the periodical of the East German Academy of Sciences [15]. There are a few discrepancies between the pre-published and actual program, and also between the contents of the Preprints and the final Proceedings: some of the planned foreign visitors were unable to participate, while a few speakers arrived without being listed in the original program. Therefore, a few papers were added, while others had to be deleted. One of the most interesting papers was presented by A.A. Zhukhovitskii (Moscow, SU), discussing three variants of GC he developed together with N.M. Turkel’taub; until then these had only been described in Russian publications. These are the so-called vacancy chromatography, iteration chromatography and step chromatography. In the first two techniques the sample vapor was used as the carrier gas and samples of a single gas or a gas mixture were injected into this stream, either as a single injection or as a series of injections. The resulting chromatograms permitted qualitative and quantitative analysis. Finally, in step chromatography very large sample volumes were injected. These grossly overloaded the column, resulting not in the usual peaks, but in large, box-like deflections (called ‘‘steps’’ by the author) the height of which was proportional to concentration. In another important contribution A.V. Kiselev (Moscow) discussed the advantages of porous glasses and porous-walled glass capillaries with uniform pore structure, and demonstrated their use in the analysis of C1-C10 hydrocarbons.

The plenary lecture of J. Jana´k (Brno, CS) presented the concept of what we call today hyphenated techniques. He spoke about the combination of GC with other analytical methods, particularly thin-layer chromatography. A combination of GC with IR spectroscopy was used by W. Ecknig, H. Rotzsche and H. Kriegsmann (East Berlin) for the separation and identification of hexamethyl cyclotetrasiloxane isomers; the column effluent was conducted directly into the IR cell. J. Franc and S. Michajlova´ (Pardubice, CS) approached identification in a different way, by using four parallel columns coated with stationary phases of highly different polarities. The effluents from the four columns were united prior to the detector, resulting in a complex chromatogram what the author called a ‘‘chromatographic spectrum.’’ According to the paper, such a ‘‘spectrum’’ is highly characteristic of the individual compounds. In the field of GC theory, R.S. Petrova and K.D. Shcherbakova (Moscow, SU) discussed the GC characterization of adsorbent surfaces, E. Kucˇera and O. Grubner (Prague, CS) presented relationships describing the influence of certain parameters on column efficiency, and C.-E. Do¨ring and H.G. Hauthal (Leuna) studied the possibility of determining reaction equilibrium constants. S.S. Roginskii (Moscow) investigated the kinetics of chemical reactions under GC conditions and demonstrated how the equilibrium constants and activation energies of catalytic dehydration of butane and cyclohexane can be established from the GC data. A few papers concerned general questions of qualitative and quantitative analysis. C.E.R. Jones and D. Kinsler (Carshalton, UK) discussed the statistical evaluation of chromatograms, while O. Serfas and G. Geppert (Leipzig) dealt with the mathematical treatment of overlapping peaks. H.G. Struppe (Leipzig) investigated from the theoretical point of view the possible best accuracy one can obtain in retention time and retention index measurement using capillary columns. A large number of papers dealt with quite diverse applications of GC, such as the analysis of petroleum products (M.S. Vigdergauz, Novokuybyshevsk, SU), saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (I. Zeman, Usti, CS, and V. Vasilescu, Rodleben), sesquiterpenes (V. Lukesˇ ,

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Prague, CS), amino acids and their derivates (G. Winkler, Leipzig, K. Ru¨hlmann, East Berlin, and K. Anders, Leipzig), siloxanes (M. Wurst, Kolin, CS, and G. Garzo´, Budapest, H), chlorinated cyclopentadiene derivatives (A. Lechner, Veszpre´m, H), trace impurities in methyl methacrylate (L. Szepesy, Veszpre´m) and in C2-C5 olefins (S. Rennhak, Leuna) and the analysis of sewage effluent of industrial plants (J. Gorlas, Essen, FRG). A total of 11 papers dealt with instrumental development. J. Jana´k and J. Nova´k (Brno, CS) described a new detector representing the pneumatic analog of the Wheatstone bridge: its advantages were claimed to be that it did not require electric power and was not in physical contact with the analytical sample. Modifications of the argon-ionization detector were the subject of the paper of S. Matousˇ ek (Prague, CS), while U. Pro¨sch and H.J. Zo¨pfl (East Berlin) described how this detector could be installed in the Giede GCHF-18.2 gas chromatograph. V.J. Kalmanovskii (Moscow, SU) discussed the working mechanism of the flame-ionization detector and outlined the possibility of building a ‘‘flameless’’ ionization detector having the same mechanism. Preparative GC was the subject of the presentation of K.I. Sakodynskii (Moscow, SU): giving data on systems employing 2–11 m long columns with 15–30 mm internal diameter. D. Obst (East Berlin) dealt with the design and performance of the Model GCI-2, a gas chromatograph developed in the laboratories of the (East) German Academy of Sciences, in Berlin-Adlershof. The instrument employed a thermalconductivity detector and a special electronic flowmeter. An electromechanical integrator was coupled to the potentiometric recorder. Three gas chromatographs developed in Czechoslovakia were described. A. Vanko (Nova´ky, CS) discussed the Model WP-0261J process GC instrument equipped with a thermalconductivity detector and thermostated at a single temperature (50 °C). B. Petzelt (Prague) described two laboratory gas chromatographs, both manufactured in Czechoslovakia. The production of Chrom-1 started in 1960, while Chrom-2 was developed in 1962; the latter could also be used with capillary columns. Both instruments were equipped with a flameionization detector. Petzelt also mentioned that a temperature-programmed Historical

Fig. 9. The local organizers of the 1961 Symposium held at BUNA, in Schkopau. (Left to right:) K. Metzner, M. Schro¨ter and W. Luchsinger

Fig. 10. A.V. Kiselev (second from right) and K.D. Shcherbakova (right) (Moscow, SU) visiting the W.G. Pye exhibit at the 1961 Symposium. Left to right: H. Knauer (West Berlin), C.E.R. Jones (Carshalton, UK) and R. Gittins (Cambridge, UK)

instrument was under development but gave no details. It is interesting to note that the instruments developed up to then in East Germany and Czechoslovakia could only be used under isothermal conditions while by 1963, practically every gas chromatograph produced in Western Europe and the U.S.A. permitted programmed-temperature operation. Thus, the lecture of H.M. McNair (Amsterdam, NL), the European representative of the American F&M Corporation, on temperature programming was certainly of interest to the participants of the symposium. The status of instrumentation in the west was also surveyed by G.v. Waldeyer-Hartz (Frankfurt/Main, Chromatographia 2004, 59, March (No. 5/6)

FRG) who described the instruments exhibited at the 4th International GC Symposium held in Hamburg, in June 1962. As usual an instrument exhibition was also organized during the symposium. Besides its laboratory instruments (the GACH-21 and GCHF-18.2), the company of Willy Giede displayed the first time its automated process control GC (the Model GBC-1), a new integrator with printout (the Model GID-1), and the prototype of a high-temperature laboratory gas chromatograph. The workshops of the (East) German Academy of Sciences showed their Model GCI-2 laboratory gas chromatograph (described by D. Obst) and the company

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Acknowledgement Figure 1 was provided by UFZ Centre for Environmental Research LeipzigHalle and Figures 8 and 10 are from the collection of one of us (HGS). The other figures were given to us by H.-G. Angele´ (Figs. 2–7), K. Metzner (Figs. 9 and 11) and C.-E. Do¨ring (Fig. 12). Their cooperation and help are much appreciated.

References

Fig. 11. The GC laboratory of the BUNA Works, in Schkopau. At the middle of the back bench is a Giede GACH 21 gas chromatograph, with Gerhard Kahlert just injecting a sample. Two selfbuilt instruments consisting of building blocks are left of the Giede instrument. Two lead batteries serving as the power supply for the thermal-conductivity detectors are in the lower part of the back bench; special needle valves and control units for the carrier gas (hydrogen) flow are next to the batteries. The four potentiometric recorders are the products of the MAW company, in Magdeburg. The Gasofract gas chromatograph of the West German company Dr. Virus KG, with its own recorder, can be seen on the front bench

Fig. 12. H. Kienitz (BASF, Ludwigshafen, FRG)(left) and S. Rennhak (Leuna) serving as chairmen of a session at the 1963 Symposium

E. Zimmermann exhibited detectors and accessories. The Czechoslovak company Laboratorni Pristroje demonstrated its Model Chrom-2 (described by B. Petzelt). From Western Europe Griffin & George Co. (Wembley, UK) exhibited a gas chromatograph equipped with Martin’s gas density balance and Julian Becker Co. (Delft, NL) showed its laboratory gas chromatograph that could be used with

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either thermal-conductivity or flame-ionization detector and could also be adapted for preparative applications. Finally, this was the first time that the East-German company Berlin-Chemie, marketing supports, adsorbents and stationary phases, was present at the exhibition. In the third part of our article we shall discuss the 1965 and 1968 symposia which were held in (East) Berlin.

1. Ettre LS, Struppe HG (2004) Chromatographia 59:143–151 2. Angele´ H-P (1960) In: Scott RPW (Ed.), Gas Chromatography 1960 (Edinburgh Symposium), Butterworths, London, pp. xv–xvii 3. Scott RPW (1957) In: Desty DH (Ed.), Vapour Phase Chromatography (1956 London Symposium), Butterworths, London, pp 131–145 4. Gas-Chromatographie. Vortra¨ge zur ersten Symposium u¨ber Gas-Chromatographie in Leipzig, Oktober 1958. Akademie Verlag, Berlin; 248 pp 5. Angele´ H-P (1959) (Ed.) Gas-Chromatographie 1958 (Leipzig Symposium). Abh. Dtsch. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Kl. Chem Geol Biol, No.9; 338 pp 6. Kaiser RE, Struppe HG (Eds.) Gas-Chromatographie 1959 (Vortra¨ge zum 2. Symposium u¨ber Gas-Chromatographie in Bo¨hlen, Oktober 1959). Akademie Verlag, Berlin; 356 pp 7. Angele´ H-P, Struppe HG (Eds.) GasChromatographie 1961 (Vortra¨ge zum 3. Symposium u¨ber Gas-Chromatographie in Schkopau, May 1961). Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1961; 376 pp 8. Struppe HG (1961) Z Chem 1 (8):255–256 9. Struppe HG (1961) Chem Techn 13 (7/8):499–503 10. Schro¨ter M, Metzner K (1962) (Eds) Gas Chromatographie 1961 (Schkopau Symposium). Abh. Dtsch. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Kl. Chem Geol Biol No.1; 528 pp 11. Angele´ H-P, Struppe HG (1963) (Eds) Gas Chromatographie 1963 (Vortra¨ge zum 4. Symposium u¨ber Gas-Chromatographie in Leuna, Mai 1963). Akademie Verlag, Berlin; 421 pp 12. Struppe HG (1963) Z Chem 3(8):317–321 13. Struppe HG (1963) Chem Techn 15(9):568–570 14. Ettre LS (1963) J Gas Chromatogr 1(10):15–19 15. Struppe HG, Angele´ H-P (1964) (Eds) GasChromatographie 1963 (Leuna Symposium). Abh Dtsch Akad Wiss Berlin, Kl. Chem Geol Biol, No. 6; 372 pp

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