New approaches on gas phase molecular absorption spectrometry detection in gas chromatography

A hyphenated technique for coupling a spectrophotometric detector to a gas chromatograph with a packed column is described. The packed column was connected directly to the flow cell (path length 1 cm) which was placed in a UV-visible molecular absorption spectrophotometer with diode array detector. This detection system was employed for separating and determining benzene, toluene, 1,4-xylene, 1,2-xylene and mesitylene. Molecular absorption spectra of all the separated compounds have also been obtained. A new possibility for coupling capillary gas chromatography and gas phase molecular absorption spectrometry is currently being tested. In this new case, two fibre optics are used and the measurement is performed in the capillary column.     

Determination of low-level residual ethylene oxide by using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography

Current methods of analysis for ethylene oxide (EO) in medical devices include headspace and simulated-use extractions followed by gas chromatography with either a packed or a capillary column. The quantitation limits are about 0.5-1.0 microg/g for a packed column and about 0.1-0.2 microg/g for a capillary column. The current allowable levels of EO on medical devices sterilized with EO gas as outlined in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 10993-7 may be significantly reduced from current levels by applying the ISO Draft International Standard 10993-17 method for establishing allowable limits. This may require EO test methods with detection and quantitation limits that are much lower than those of the currently available methods. This paper describes a new method that was developed for the determination of low-level EO by solid-phase microextraction using the direct-immersion method. Factors such as temperature and stirring were found to affect absorption efficiency and absorption time. A low extraction temperature (about 6 degrees C) was found to be more efficient than room-temperature extraction. Stirring was found to reduce absorption time by about 50%. Under these conditions, detection and quantitation limits of 0.002 and 0.009 microg/g, respectively, were obtained by using a capillary column. As a result, this method makes compliance with lower EO limits feasible.     

Rapid analysis of hydrocarbons and inert gases by a multidimensional gas chromatograph

A combination of a pressure switching system with multiple columns and photoionization detectors makes possible rapid analysis of a mixture of inorganic gases and hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are separated by a narrow bore capillary column. An alumina PLOT column is used for the separation of lower molecular weight hydrocarbons, especially C4 isomers, while a combination of a micro-packed column with Porapak N and a PLOT capillary column with Molecular Sieve 5A is used for the fast separation of inorganic gases. A photoionization detector is a powerful additional tool for organic gas analysis.     

Fast gas chromatography: packed column solvating gas chromatography versus open tubular column gas chromatography

Packed capillary column solvating gas chromatography (SGC) and open tubular column gas chromatography (GC) were compared with respect to their potentials for fast separations. A recently introduced "universal" peak capacity equation was used to compare the performance of these two methods. The effects of various factors on peak capacity were investigated. Results demonstrate that retention factor and column efficiency are the main factors affecting peak capacity for fast separations. Packed columns produce both high retention factors and high selectivities. While high efficiencies and high peak capacities can be demonstrated by both techniques, open tubular column GC can surpass packed capillary column SGC in both measurements, except for the case of the analysis of simple mixtures in short analysis times, where retention factor and selectivity become important. Practical aspects such as pressure drop and sample capacity are compared for SGC and open tubular column GC. It was found that packed column SGC demonstrates higher sample capacities, but requires much higher column inlet pressures than open tubular column GC. A variety of mobile phases can be used for packed column SGC, which can provide high solvating power for large and polar compounds.     

Glass capillary gas chromatography with electron-capture detection. Separation of prostaglandins

Glass capillary gas chromatography of the prostaglandins was performed on a system including an all-glass, solventless injector; thermostable methylphenyl-polysiloxane glass capillary columns; and a conventional electron-capture detector fitted with a make-up gas tee. The principal stable metabolites of prostaglandin endoperoxide were separated as perfluorinated derivatives in 35 min. Detection limits equal or exceed those obtained for packed column separations and electron capture detection. Prostaglandin endoperoxide metabolic profiles from mammalian cell cultures were obtained using this system. These profiling studies are not possible with other chromatographic methods because of inferior resolution and sensitivity.     

MnCl_2改性γ-Al_2O_3毛细管填充柱气相色谱分析氢同位素

针对常规气相色谱填充柱分析稳定氢同位素的柱效低、峰宽大、保留时间长等问题,采用MnCl_2改性γ-Al_2O_3填充的石英毛细管柱开展了系统性柱效分析及氢同位素分析技术研究。研究结果表明,使用MnCl_2对γ-Al_2O_3进行改性后,可大大改善单纯的γ-Al_2O_3表面有序度、孔结构和吸附性质,并将正氢(o-H_2)和仲氢(p-H_2)峰洗脱在单一谱峰区域内。制备的长1.0 m、内径0.53 mm的石英毛细填充柱与热导检测器(TCD)级联测试,在体积浓度1至10 m L/L范围内有较好的线性关系,对于低浓度样品检测的相对误差不大于5%。H_2、HD和D_2的保留时间可分别缩短至39、46和60 s,检出限可分别降低至0.046、0.067和0.072 m L/L。毛细管填充柱较常规填充柱具有峰形尖锐、相邻组分分离度高、保留时间短、检出限低等优点,可用于低浓度氢同位素快速测量及氢同位素在线分析。     

Fast analysis of nicotine related alkaloids in tobacco and cigarette smoke by megabore capillary gas chromatography

A novel fast megabore capillary gas chromatographic (MCGC) method for analysis of 7 nicotine related alkaloids in tobacco and cigarette smoke, including nicotine, nornicotine, myosmine, nicotyrine, anabasine, anatabine and 2,3-dipyridyl, was developed. The use of megabore capillary column GC methodology, equipped with flame ionization detector (FID), provided rapid, unambiguous nicotine related alkaloids analysis. One gram flue-cured tobacco (or Cambridge filter pad), 20 ml ether, and 5 ml 10% sodium hydroxide solution, added with n-heptadecane as the internal standard, were placed in a flask, and the flask was capped and placed in an ultrasonic bath for 15 min. A 1 microl volume was analyzed by capillary GC operating in split-injection mode on a mega bore Simplicity-5 column. This simple procedure was compared with the previously reported packed column GC method and the Griffith still-colorimetric method. The application of the method for analysis of various flue-cured tobaccos and cigarette smoke was discussed.     

Cosorption effect in gas chromatography: flow fluctuations caused by adsorbing carrier gases

Adsorbing carrier gases have a number of advantages in analytical and preparative gas chromatography, such as clearer detector signals and higher column efficiencies. This work shows that adsorbing carrier gases also may be useful because they cause the mobile phase flow rate to become unsteady after injecting a small amount of sample. This work shows that a 100 microL sample of helium can liberate enough carbon dioxide carrier gas from a zeolite 5A packed column at 373 K, that the departure from the steady-state flow rate had an upper lobe area of 586 microL of carrier gas. This was confirmed by coupling a modified Langmuir kinetic model with the Ergun equation.     

Coupling miniaturized liquid chromatography to capillary gas chromatography (micro-LC-CGC): Possibilities of reversed phase LC

Retention gaps with different polarity treatments were evaluated for reversed phase solvents. Aminopropyl- and cyanopropyl-deactivated retention gaps showed the best results for methanol-water mixtures. A reversed phase packed fused silica capillary LC column is connected on-line with a capillary gas chromatography column. The combination was used for the analysis of diazepam in urine. Volume overloading on packed fused silica columns without loss of too much efficiency was demonstrated for propranolol.     

Determination of carbon monoxide,methane and carbon dioxide in refinery hydrogen gases and air by gas chromatography

This paper illustrates a method for determining trace amounts of CO, CH4 and CO2 with the detection limit of 0.15, 0.15 and 0.20 microg/l, respectively, in refinery hydrogen gases or in air. A simple modification of a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame-ionization detector is presented. A Porapak Q column, additionally connected with a short molecular sieve 5A packed column and a catalytic hydrogenation reactor on the Ni catalyst have been applied. The principle of the analytical method proposed is the separation of CO from O2 before the introduction of CO to the methanizer. The analytical procedure and examples of the results obtained have been presented. The modification applied makes it possible to use the GC instrument for other determinations, requiring utilization of the Porapak Q column and the flame-ionization detector. In such cases, the short molecular sieve 5A column and the methanizer can be by-passed.     

Candidate EPA, NIOSH method for determining carbon disulfide in air with capillary gas chromatography by orthogonal design

This paper describes a candidate NIOSH EPA method for the determination of carbon disulfide in the air of workplaces with capillary gas chromatography using an orthogonal design. This method is designed to replace the packed column of the NIOSH method with a capillary column. The first part of this work concerned the setup of the method, particularly the choice of chromatographic parameters and finding their main favorable working ranges. The second part, using the statistical method orthogonal design, focused on optimizing the GC conditions, which were: column temperature, T(c) = 90 degrees C; injector temperature, T(i) = 140 degrees C; U section detector temperature, FPDU = 160 degrees C; L section detector temperature, FPDL = 210 degrees C; flow rate of carrier gas, F(c) = 20 cm/s; split ratio = 1/70; and injection volume = 1 microL. The quality control test showed that the coefficient of intra-day variation (CV) was 2.21%. A good logarithm linear correlation between the standard solutions and their peak areas was obtained. In general, the method reported here seems a valid candidate for a NIOSH EPA method due to its high precision and accuracy.     

Separation of fresh tobacco smoke on a packed polar gas chromatographic column prior to on-line analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using a non-polar capillary column.

Gaseous samples of fresh tobacco smoke were injected on to a packed polar column (2,2-oxydipropionitrile) in all-glass chromatographic system. With the aid of a warm syringe, selected fractions were withdrawn from the bottom of the electron capture detector of the packed column for further injection into an efficient non-polar glass capillary column (SF-96), connectable on-line to a mass spectrometer. The method has permitted the separation and identification of some polar and non-polar components of tobacco smoke, which gave previously mixed, broad, tailing peaks when the smoke was injected directly into a non-polar capillary column.     

A new way of using thermal conductivity detectors in capillary gas chromatography

Summary Large volume TCD cells, as commonly used in gas chromatographs, can be used as detectors in capillary gas chromatography without loss of separation efficiency and sensitivity, by expanding the column effluent. This can be achieved by inserting a throttle between the column and the detector cell and reducing the pressure in the cell. A device working at a cell pressure of 20 mbar was studied to determine its usefulness for practical analytical work. The construction of the detector is described. The results of measurements concerning the linearity, sensitivity and accuracy of the detector, when used with glass capillary columns are given.     

A new type of capillary column for gas chromatography

A new type of capillary column for gas chromatography was proposed. A sorbent layer (for example, stationary liquid phase) is supported on the internal capillary surface, and the internal (interstitial) volume is packed with nonporous large particles of a sorbent (particle diameter is 0.1—0.6 of the capillary internal diameter). The external surface of the particles can also be coated with the sorbent layer (for example, stationary liquid phase). The specific separation efficiency (number of separation) on the new type column is by 1.6—2.3 times higher than that of the initial classical capillary column.     

Short metal capillary columns packed with polymer-coated fibrous materials in high-temperature gas chromatography

The high-temperature gas chromatographic (GC) separation of several semivolatile compounds is studied with a short metal capillary column packed with fibrous material, having a polydimethylsiloxane coating thereon. Taking advantage of the excellent heat-resistance of the fiber and also the combination of the surface-deactivated metal capillary, a temperature-programmed separation up to 450 degrees C is successfully demonstrated for the separation of polymer standard samples. The average molecular weight of the commercially-available polymer standard samples for size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is estimated by high-temperature GC analysis and compared with the nominal value determined by a conventional SEC method. Although a slight deviation for the number-average molecular weight is observed between the GC and SEC analysis, the data for the weight-average molecular weight shows a good agreement in these methods. The results also suggest the future possibility of the fiber-packed metal capillary as a miniaturized GC column with an increased sample loading capacity.     

Steroid analysis by gas chromatography with SCOT and wide-bore WCOT columns

Glass capillary columns are ideal for analysis of urinary steroid profiles (i.e. the total steroid neutral fraction without prior separation into sub-groups). In this paper performance of both SCOT and wide-bore WCOT columns has been compared, resulting in no significant quantitative difference on urine extracts run as trimethylsilyl ether derivatives. However, because of increased efficiency the WB-WCOT column exhibited more sensitivity in measurement of small amounts of 11-ox-aetiocholanolone. Sensitivity of other steroids was greatly enhanced by use of either SCOT or WB-WCOT, leading to an almost tenfold increase over conventional packed columns (e.g. androsterone and aetiocholanolone < 40 μg per 24 h urine sample). A simple splitless injection system (based on a design of Dr. W. Greenaway, Oxford University) is presented. Experiments were also carried out using a SCOT column in conjunction with an FM-electron capture detector. Whilst efficiency was impaired due to the design of the detector, use of He (carrier) and N₂ (make up gas) showed that several steroid derivatives could be easily measured at well below the 10^?10 g level with much more rapid retention times than with a 1½m packed column. Highly successful separation of 19 amino acids (as fluoro-acyl derivatives) was achieved in 35 minutes using a SCOT (30 m) SP2100 column.     

The gas chromatographic separation of anaesthetic agents and aerosol propellants in operating room air using serially packed columns

The use of gas chromatographic columns serially packed with molecular sieve 5A and Porapak-Q (both with particle sizes in the range 50–80 mesh) is described for the analysis of operating theatre air for nitrous oxide, halothane, trichloroethylene, enflurane, Freon-11 and Freon-12. Various combinations of lengths of the two packings were evaluated; the most suitable was 2.75 m of Porapak-Q and 0.29 m of molecular sieve 5A with a column temperature of 250°C. With the electron capture detector used, the optimum temperature to give high sensitivity for nitrous oxide was 350°C.     

Determination of amino acids by gas chromatography using a wide bore capillary column

A procedure is described in which a wide bore capillary column is used as an alternative to the more traditional packed column for the quantitative analysis of amino acids as their N-heptafluorobutyryl isobutyl ester (HBB) derivatives. The column, installed in a gas chromatograph previously configured for use with a packed column, is shown to give good reproducibility by repeated determination of amino acid response factors (RSD values for all amino acids are below 3%). A number of problems, encountered during the use of this column, are discussed and suitable techniques to overcome them are reported.     

Determination of BTEX Compounds in Solid–Liquid Mixing Paint Using the Combination of Solid Phase Extraction,Thermal Desorption and GC-FID

A novel method was developed and validated for determination of benzene, toluene, p-xylene, m-xylene, o-xylene (BTEX) in a solid–liquid mixing matrix. It makes use of solid phase extraction and thermal desorption (SPE-TD), followed by gas chromatographic flame ionization detector analysis (GC-FID). The trapped BTEX can be measured directly after thermal desorption onto the stainless-steel packed chromatographic column. The effect of tailing area of solvent was removed with the use of SPE-TD technique, and the result shows good reproducibility with very little matrix dependency. The study also supports that the lifetime of the Tenax adsorption tube could be extended over 150 desorption operation at 200 °C, which enables performing excellent stability and reproducibility of BTEX analysis.

     

Large diameter open tubular columns in gas chromatographic analysis

Large diameter open tubular columns provide the packed column chromatographer with a simple route to higher resolution gas chromatography. They can be operated in a high-flow (lower resolution) mode that permits their direct substitution for a packed column, or they can be operated in a low-flow (higher resolution) mode that maximizes separation at the cost of longer analysis times. Inlet design and column installation can influence both the chromatographic results and quantiative reliability. Make-up gas is not required in the high-flow mode, and its benefits in the low-flow mode are restricted to enhanced detector sensitivity, provided the outlet end of the column resides in the detector jet (FID). The columns seem fully compatible with all common modes of detection.