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A procedure is described to judge the quality of clinical chemistry hospital laboratories in The Netherlands. In 1974, 45% of the laboratories took part in the national control scheme. A score system of the results, independent of the standard deviation, opens a provisional possibility to strive for (dynamic) reference laboratories. The Youden plots possibly will unveil systematic method-differences. Discrepancies in results seem to be caused as much by methods/instruments applied, as by unknown factors which are under investigation now.

The implementation of a centrifugal analyzer in an automated laboratory is discussed. Hardware and software requirements for the linkage between a MCA-III (Instrumentation Laboratories) and a desktop computer HP 9845B (Hewlett Packard) are described. A simple and reliable automated system working in a conversational mode was realized.

A method is described to prepare routinely high resolution support-coated open tubular (SCOT) columns. A siliceous support material (Cab-O-Sil) is deactivated with benzyltriphenylphosphonium chloride and deposited on the inside wall of a glass capillary column. After additional coating with a polar stationary phase (OV-225) a number of anticonvulsant drugs can be analyzed without prior derivatization. The columns described show high plate numbers and do not deteriorate in use. The repeatability of the gas chromatographic analysis is better than 1.2% (Orel). The minimum detectable quantity is of the order of 10(-10) g. An improved procedure for isolating the drugs from serum is given, which results in an extraction recovery of better than 90% for the drugs of interest.

Isotachophoresis seems a likely candidate for a reference method, as it is more accurate and precise than common routine methods. The response is highly linear and depends on a well defined transport number of the leading ion, stability of the driving current, mobility of the separand, which is well controlled by the leading electrolyte and the use of a high-resolution detector. The suitability of isotachophoresis as a reference method was investigated for the determination of sodium in human serum. The operational conditions were 0.01 M K+/citrate (leading electrolyte) at pH 5.5 and 0.01 M creatinine X HCl (terminating electrolyte). Both n-butylamine and ammediol could be used as internal standards. The calibration graph constructed from standard solutions, diluted by weight with the internal standard, yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.99994 (n = 50) in the working range. The method seems especially useful for the determination of any ionic solute in, e.g., clinical samples (lithium, calcium, creatinine or drugs).