Institution: | Official Food Control Authority of the Canton of Zürich (Kantonales Labor), P.O. Box, CH-8030, Zürich, Switzerland |
Abstract: | Techniques for large volume introduction of liquid samples into capillary gas chromatography (GC) follow a small number of principals. Vaporising systems, vapour discharge modes and methods for solvent-solute separation are classified and evaluated. Presently, programmed temperature vaporising (PTV) solvent split injection is the preferred method if on-column techniques cannot be applied. Critical re-evaluation suggests, however, that solvent evaporation and solvent-solute separation should be performed in separate compartments and optimized individually. Permanently hot chambers offer the highest capacity for solvent evaporation. The preferred techniques for solvent-solute separation are stationary phase focusing in a coated capillary or solvent trapping in an uncoated capillary precolumn. The vaporising chamber-precolumn solvent split-gas discharge system is proposed for large volume injection and on-line transfer of water-containing solvent mixtures, and in-line vaporiser-precolumn solvent split-overflow system for most on-line transfer applications. |