Armstrong receives international honor for contributions to analytical chemistry

Tuesday, Jan 21, 2025 • Greg Pederson :

A chemist at The University of Texas at Arlington is being honored with an international award for his significant contributions to the field of analytical chemistry.

Daniel Armstrong, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Professor in Chemistry, is the recipient of the 2025 Pittcon Analytical Chemistry Award. He is being recognized for his fundamental studies and evolutionary approaches for stereochemical analysis, his development and characterization of ionic liquids for chemical investigations, microbiological separations, and mechanistic studies in diverse areas of analytical chemistry.

Pittcon is an international conference and exposition on laboratory science where the latest advances in analytical research and scientific instrumentation are presented each year. Armstrong will receive the award at the Pittcon 2025 Conference & Expo, which is scheduled for March 1-5 in Boston.

“Pittcon is the world’s largest and most prestigious conference in analytical chemistry. It is a singular distinction to win this award which encompasses such a broad and important area of science,” Armstrong said. “I am happiest to be meeting once again with many of my former students and colleagues whose exceptional work and dedication contributed to the research that is being recognized. I look forward to seeing everyone in Boston.”

Armstrong has more than 35 years of experience in the field of chiral recognition, enantiomeric separations, and their biological relevance. He is regularly cited as one of the most influential scientists in the field of analytical chemistry.

His research focuses on new approaches in identifying chiral disease biomarkers, peptide epimers and isotopic compounds. His recent work includes research on mirror-image chemicals called cyclodextrins that are paving the way for complex medications to be delivered to patients more easily. Armstrong has also published research on detecting disease biomarkers and how to make chromatography — a common test used in everything from performance enhancing drug detection to crime scene analysis — more environmentally friendly.

In December, a molecule created by Armstrong and his lab, α⁠-⁠ʟ⁠-⁠cyclodextrin, was named molecule of the year by the readers of Chemical & Engineering News, a publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS). C&EN is widely considered the world's most authoritative source of news about chemistry and related fields. The mirror-image cyclodextrin molecule developed by Armstrong’s team has great potential application for drug delivery, materials science, and biotechnology.

“Professor Dan Armstrong is an exceptional scholar and a leading figure in the field of analytical chemistry. Awarding him this prestigious honor is an obvious and well-deserved choice by the selection committee,” said Rasika Dias, professor and chair of the UTA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “We are proud to have Dan as a valued colleague.”

Armstrong has done groundbreaking work in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a technique used to separate compounds in a chemical mixture, and gas chromatography (GC), a group of analytical separation techniques used to analyze volatile substances in the gas phase. Over 30 different HPLC and GC columns that were originally developed in Armstrong’s laboratories during his career have been commercialized and/or copied worldwide.

He is considered the “father” of micelle and cyclodextrin based separations, and he introduced the first chiral recognition mechanism by cyclodextrins. He was also the first to develop macrocyclic antibiotics as chiral selectors. His work, in part, spurred the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pass its 1992 guidelines regarding the separation of stereoisomeric drugs, which are drugs containing the same atoms in different arrangements and which can have different pharmacological effects.

Armstrong is a Fellow of the ACS, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from LCGC; the Wilfred T. Doherty Research and Service Award from the DFW Section of ACS; the Dal Nogare Award for Separation Science from LCGC North America; and the ACS Award in Chromatography.

He is a member of the UTA Academy of Distinguished Scholars and also has received the UTA Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring Award; the UTA Distinguished Scholars Award; and the UTA Award for Distinguished Record of Research or Creative Activity. Since its creation in 2013, he has been named seven times to the annual Power List of the most influential analytical scientists in the world by The Analytical Scientist magazine. He has authored or co-authored more than 750 publications, 40 book chapters, one book, and has 38 patents. His work has been cited nearly 55,000 times.

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