Laboratory of the Government

R. P. Harvey. In Proceedings of the Development and Use of Fume Cupboards, Fume Hoods and Ventilated Safety Enclosures in Laboratories . Symposium Organised by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, London, March 1979, pp. 32-59. 

DTI (2002) Tributyitin in consumer products. Report prepared by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist for the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry, by letter dated 8 March 2002. 

Fluoride glasses are difficult to classify because the various constituents can be added to the fusion mixture in several ways. However, glasses of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (Wilson Kent, 1973 Kent, Lewis Wilson, 1979 Wilson et al., 1980 Hill Wilson, 1988a), which form the basis of many commercial cements, can be represented as... 

Figure 5.17 Diagrammatic representation of a glass-ionomer cement (Laboratory of the Government Chemist Crown copyright reserved).

ElUs, J. Wilson, A. D. (1987). Report. Laboratory of the Government Chemist. 

Ellis, J. (1989). Materials based on polyelectrolytes. PhD. Thesis (Council for National Academic Awards) Thames Polytechnic and Laboratory of the Government Chemist, London. 

Dedicated to the past and present members of the Materials Technology Group at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist... 

The senior author first became interested in acid-base cements in 1964 when he undertook to examine the deficiencies of the dental silicate cement with a view to improving performance. At that time there was much concern by both dental surgeon and patient at the failure of this aesthetic material which was used to restore front teeth. Indeed, at the time, one correspondent commenting on this problem to a newspaper remarked that although mankind had solved the problem of nuclear energy the same could not be said of the restoration of front teeth. At the time it was supposed that the dental silicate cement was, as its name implied, a silicate cement which set by the formation of silica gel. Structural studies at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) soon proved that this view was incorrect and that the cement set by formation of an amorphous aluminium phosphate salt. Thus we became aware of and intrigued by a class of materials that set by an acid-base reaction. It appeared that there was endless scope for the formulation of novel materials based on this concept. And so it proved. 

The project is managed through the Laboratory of the Government Chemist in Teddington, UK, and is part of the British government s Foresight link program [45]. The cost of the Lab-on-a-Chip project was 3.2 million. Two key tasks are the exploration of reactions and processes on a micro-scale and the commercialization of the results. 

In the United Kingdom chemical RMs were first produced some time in the late 1960 s at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Division of Chemical Standards at Teddington. This Division was transferred to the Laboratory of the Government Chemist LGC in November 1978. Early work was based on the development of highly... 

Roper P, Burke S, Lawn R, Barwick V, Ellison S, Walker R (1999) Applications of Reference Materials in Analytical Chemisti-y. LGC/VAM/1999/036, Laboratory of the Government Chemist, Teddington. 

The Promochem Group was the first international specialist supplier of certified reference materials (CRMs) and pharmaceutical reference substances used in environmental, medical and trace element analysis. Their experience provides a viewpoint that echoes, reinforces and expands on many of the trends discussed above (Jenks 1997). From the middle of the 1980 s, sales of CRM by Promochem increased between 10 % and 20 % annually, depending on the market sector and application. Since then National and International Metrology Institutes, such as the now privatized U.K. Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), the European and U.S. Pharmacopoeias, the E.U. IRMM and others have recognized that efficient distribution of RMs, backed by available technical support, is as important as production and certification. Thus, they have moved to spread their influence outside their national origins. The Web and e-commerce will continue to grow as major facilitators of better information dissemination and supply of CRMs. 

Laboratory of the Government Chemist Queens Road, Teddington Middlesex TWii oLY, England E-mail VED lgc.co.uk... 

Institut de Recherches de la Siderurgie, France International Organization for Standardization ISO Council Committee on Reference Materials International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry Laboratory of the Government Chemist, UK, formerly NPL National Bureau of Standards, USA, now NIST National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, USA National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, UK Japanese National Institute for Environmental Studies National Institute of Occup. Health, Oslo, Norway National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA, formerly NBS,... 

Laboratory of the Government Chemist (formerly NPL) (Teddington, UK) Laboratory Information and Management Systems... 

Vicki Barwick obtained a first degree in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham. She then joined the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (which became LGC in 1996) as an analyst in the Consumer Safety Group. Vicki was involved with a number of projects to assess the safety of consumer products, including developing test methods for the identification of colourants in cosmetics and the quantitation of phthalate plasticizers in child-care items. 

STEVENS URETHANE UK,DEPT.OF TRADE IND. UK,LABORATORY OF THE GOVERNMENT CHEMIST SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON TOXICITY,ECOTOXICITY ENVIRONMENT AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE HEALTH EUROPEAN COMMISSION TNO PLASTICS RUBBER RESEARCH INSTITUTE DENMARK EU EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EUROPEAN UNION FRANCE NETHERLANDS SCANDINAVIA UK USA WESTERN EUROPE WESTERN EUROPE-GENERAL... 

Abbott and Wagstaff [251] of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist UK have described a thin layer chromatographic method for the identification of 12 acidic herbicides and 19 nitrogenous herbicides (carbamates, substituted ureas and triazine). 

Although some of these elements, such as the heater, continuous separator, dehuhhler or microprocessor, are not indispensable, the rest are fundamental to the design of continuous segmented analysers. Although developed primarily for a chnical market, the concepts found many apphcations in the industrial area as well. TTie Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) has estahhshed many automatic analyses for routine use using these concepts [29—31]. 

Figure 3.3 shows an extract from report on Tar, Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide Yields of Cigarettes determined by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist for brands available during the period June to November 1994. 

Hydrocarbon distillates in the gas oil range ( diesel or derv ) are subject to duty when used as a road fuel. Gas oil, which is often identical to diesel oil in hydrocarbon composition, is exempt from duty when used for stationary machines. In order to prevent its misuse as a road fuel, gas oil is marked with a mixture of 1,4-dfhydroxyanthraquinone (quinizarin), 2-fiirfuraldehyde (furfural) and a red dye. An automatic method for the extraction, identification and determination of quinizarin in gas oil has been used hy the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) for some years. The presence of furfiiral provides evidence for legal prosecution and the numbers of analyses ordered in the UK merit automatic analysis. 

At the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, increased analytical demands and the expense of suitable staff resulted in a requirement for the complete, or partial mechanization or automation of this kind of work. A review of the hterature, together with an examination of the procedures then used in the laboratory, suggested that a wet-oxidation system would be the most suitable for automation. This is described in detail here because it provides a valuable lesson in systems design. The specification of the automatic system was that it should be modular in construction in order to facifitate modification and maintenance, and that it should have a multi element capabihty. 

In planning the introduction of automation into an analytical laboratory, it is important not only to consider all stages of the analysis, but also the wider context within which the laboratory serves the organization of which it is a part. Examples of laboratories that have engaged in effective planning are the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, London the Nutrients Composition Laboratory at USDA, Beltsvillle, Maryland, USA and Shell Development Company, Seal Hollow, Houston, Texas, USA. 

Clearly, the commercial or consultancy laboratory that tests sub-samples of a marketed product worth millions of pounds, or assesses the purity of pharmaceuticals, or analyses forensic samples, must have far higher levels of both accuracy and verifiability than student practical classes. There should, however, always be an effort to produce the most accurate and reliable results within the constraints of the laboratory facilities available, otherwise a lax attitude will produce work of doubtful interpretation that could mislead others, as well as giving little job satisfaction. Several books, which are more suited to the commercial sector, have been written on the quality of laboratory analysis, however some quality assurance practices could be beneficial in the smaller laboratory. A useful open-learning style book on basic concepts of quality in the analytical laboratory has been co-authored by staff at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (Crosby et ai, 1995). 

Standard reference materials are available from several suppliers in the UK, a selection of agricultural substances is available from the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, and in the US from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where the Standard Reference Materials programme is described at ... 

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