Multidimensional gas chromatography with capillary flow technology and LTM-GC

2-D GC is a logical and cost effective extension to 1-D GC for improving the separation resolution, selectivity, and peak capacity of an analytical system. The advent of electronic pressure control systems that are accurate to the third decimal place, combined with recently innovated chromatographic devices such as capillary flow technology, has eliminated many deficiencies encountered in current conventional 2-D GC by making the technique reliable and simple to implement in both production and research analytical facilities. Low thermal mass GC (LTM-GC) was successfully integrated with capillary flow technology to further enhance overall 2-D GC chromatographic system performance by providing not only faster throughput via rapid heating and cooling, but independent temperature control for each dimension to maximize separation power. As an example, despite the enhanced peak capacity obtained from conventional 2-D GC, alkyl naphthalene isomers such as 2,3-dimethyl and 1,4-dimethyl naphthalene coeluted. These two critical compounds were well resolved (R = 5.2) using 2-D GC with LTM-GC with a similar analytical time. This paper demonstrates the benefits of combining capillary flow technology with LTM-GC to provide major enhancements to conventional 2-D GC. The synergy of these techniques is highlighted with practical industrial applications.