The effect of capillary column diameter on the performance of thermal conductivity detectors

The concentration sensitivity of a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) depends, among other factors, on the amount of sample mixture in the detector's sensing cell. Since the cell volume has to be appropriately matched with column diameter, it makes the concentration sensitivity of a TCD dependent on column diameter and, therefore, on the speed of gas chromatography. Through reduction of column diameter, higher speed tends to lead to a reduction in the concentration sensitivity of the cell. The factor which the most directly affects the concentration sensitivity of a TCD cell is the heat power conducted through the cell. The higher the power, the greater the sensitivity. The limit of detection of a TCD depends on the concentration-sensitivity of its cell and on the level of statistical errors in the measurement. The errors increase with increasing analysis speed. As the column diameter is reduced, the errors cause additional worsening (on top of the decrease in concentration sensitivity) of the detection limit, dynamic range, and other performance characteristics of the TCD.     

Sorption of petrochemicals from aqueous solutions on thermally activated schungite rock

Thermal oxidative treatment enhances the activity of a schungite rock in the sorption of petrochemicals from aqueous solutions. The effect of the thermal oxidative activation on the content and distribution of carbon in the rock and the dependence of the sorption activity on the texture of sorbents were studied. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2233–2238, October, 2005.     

Double Pore Silica Gel Monolith Applied to Liquid Chromatography

Silica gels retaining double pore structure in the size ranges of micrometer and nanometer have been applied to the rod-shaped monolithic column for liquid chromatography. The macropore structure was designed by controlling the phase separation process induced by the hydrolysis and polycondensation of alkoxysilane, whereas the mesopore structure was tailored by the solvent exchange treatments on wet gels. The size exclusion chromatograms on polystyrene standards exhibited almost similar features for octadecyl-modified rod and conventional packed beads columns. The dependence of plate height on the velocity of mobile phase determined for amylbenzene was by far weaker in the rod column than in the packed beads column, suggesting that additional geometrical factors should be considered in describing the separation mechanism in the rod column.     

模拟混凝土孔溶液中钢筋钝化膜生长动力学及孔蚀过程的研究

用恒电位电流衰减法及激光扫描光电化学显微技术研究了在于ＰＨ＝１２．５及１３．８的模拟混凝土孔溶液中钢筋钝化化膜的生长动力学及相应的破坏过程，实验结果表明，钢筋钝化膜的生长过程存在两个主要阶段，各阶段膜厚均与生长时间存在正比对数关系，但当ｔ＜３０秒和ｔ＞３０秒时，膜的生长表出出不同的动力学特征，在钝化发生点蚀前，钝化膜的微区光电流一定的预兆，腐蚀抑制剂ＮａＮＯ２影响膜的生长过程及膜厚，能提高钢筋的抗     

TG and DSC investigation of the dehydration of the extra large pore aluminophosphate molecular sieve VPI-5 and related materials

The dehydration of a series of VPI-5 and H3 samples, synthesized under various conditions, as well as the solid state transformation of VPI-5 to AlPO₄-8 have been investigated using combined TG-DTG-DSC and high-resolution solid state³¹P-NMR. The TG curves show a quasi-continuous release of water, the total loss being characteristic for each sample. Complete dehydration is achieved when the samples are heated from 20°C to about 150°C at various beating rates. Besides the main dehydration effect, several weak endothermic peaks are observed. These generally non-reproducible modulated peaks, recorded at high heating rates, are presumably due to the interactions of the water molecules leaving the channels of VPI-5 with the randomly positioned fragments stemming from the destruction of the water triple helix assemblage. The non-isothermal kinetic parameters of the dehydration have been evaluated from the TG and DTG curves recorded at low heating rates. In celebration of the 60^th birthday of Dr. Andrew K. Galwey     

Synthesis of SBA-15/carbon composite with an ink-bottle-like pore structure by a novel pulse CVD technique

A novel and easy post modification method, pulse chemical vapor deposition (pulse CVD), was developed to tailor the pore-opening of SBA-15 while largely keeping its surface area and pore volume. By using acetylene as carbon precursor and nitrogen as carrier gas, the pore-mouth of SBA-15 was effectively reduced from 8.1 nm to 5.1 nm within 5 min while maintaining the pore body at 8.1 nm. This ink-bottle-structured SBA-15/carbon composite only losses 12% BET specific surface area and 16% total pore volume, respectively. The SBA-15/carbon composite is highly hexagonally ordered and has similar particle morphology as the original SBA-15. The effect of three pore modification factors—the number of cycles of pulse CVD, the ratio of acetylene/nitrogen and the feeding time of carbon precursor, on the final pore structure of the SBA-15/carbon composite is also studied.     

Monte—Carlo model of the diffusion-limited reaction kinetics in microheterogeneous media. Comparison with the experimental plots of the forward and backward electron phototransfer kinetics on the pore diameter in silica gel

The kinetics of the diffusion-limited decay reaction A + B B was simulated by the Monte—Carlo method on a two-dimensional square lattice with defects presented by randomly distributed sites. The cases were considered where [B] [A] at the random initial distribution (quenching reaction) and [B] = [A] with the initial distribution of the A and B particles on neighboring sites (geminate recombination). The kinetic curves were approximated by the simplest analytical equation [A]/[A]₀ = (1 – )exp[–(kt)^1–h ] + (where k and are constants). The plots of the heterogeneity parameter (h) and time-averaged first-order rate constant vs. concentration of defects (p) or B particles (in the case of quenching) were obtained and compared with similar correlations obtained earlier by the experimental study of the kinetics of forward (quenching reaction) and backward (geminate recombination) electron phototransfer on the surface of different porous silica gels. The experimental plots of h vs. silica gel porosity are in satisfactory agreement with the plots of h vs. p in the model space, if the fraction of volume inaccessible for reactants, calculated from the free silica gel volume, is chosen as the p parameter for silica gel.Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1536–1541, August, 2004.     

Effect of column diameter on efficiency in capillary supercritical fluid chromatography

Fused silica capillary columns with internal diameters from 100 to 25 μm were coated with SE-54 and evaluated under supercritical fluid chromatographic conditions using carbon dioxide as mobile phase. Experimental results compared well with theoretical predictions. At ten times the optimum mobile phase velocity and for a capacity factor, k of 3, efficiencies of 2300 to 5600 plates m^?1 were obtained for column diameters of 100 to 25 μm, respectively.     

Selective water sorbents for multiple applications, 3. CaCl2 solution confined in micro- and mesoporous silica gels: Pore size effect on the “solidification-melting” diagram

In this communication we present a low-temperature “solidification-melting” phase diagram for CaCl₂/H₂O solutions confined in KSK and KSM silica gels. At salt concentrations of 0–48 wt. %, the diagram has been found to lie below the diagram reported for the bulk system by 15–30°C. It shows a depression of the solution melting point due to its confinment to the pores. Several other peculiarities of melting and solidification in this system are also reported and discussed. Beside fundamental interest, the data obtained could be of importance in many commercial areas such as refrigeration, accumulation of low temperature heat, frost prevention in building materials,etc.     

Use of small diameter WCOT columns for ultra-high resolution GC/MS

For clinical and environmental analyses utilizing capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), increased sensitivity and speed of analysis are highly desirable. These performance advantages are realized using a WCOT column of 100 μm i.d. as compared to the more conventional 200 μm i.d. capillary columns. The improved sensitivity of capillary direct GC/MS with the 100 μm i.d. column for the confirmation of drugs of abuse will be demonstrated. For environmental analysis, the superior efficiency and resolution of the 100 μm i.d. column can be employed for the separation of priority pollutants. This approach is more amenable to capillary direct GC/MS providing a more effective interface to the mass spectrometer. As a result improved sensitivity and a considerable decrease in analysis time is achieved over that obtained with the larger diameter environmental specialty phase columns.