Length of the flooded zone in the column inlet and evaluation of different retention gaps for capillary gas chromatography

In on-column or in splitless injection with recondensation of the solvent, the length of the flooded zone in the column inlet depends primarily on the wettability of the internal wall of the inlet. For columns with a coated inlet this explains why peak distortion due to band broadening in space by a certain sample volume is pronounced in one case and hardly observable in another. Glass or fused silica capillaries silylated with diphenyltetramethyldisilazane were found to give optimal retention gaps. They combine thorough and thermostable deactivation with good wettability and low retention power. On the other hand it is very easy to deactivate fused silica capillaries with Carbowax. The resulting retention gaps are suitable for a wide range of applications and are particularly attractive for the analysis of dirty samples which require frequent replacement of the inlet.