Gas Chromatography Flashcards
What is the most common carrier gas?
Helium
What kind of compounds are used in gas chromatograpy?
Compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition
What are the requirments for analytes in GC?
Compounds must have sufficient volatility (bp < 500 degrees celsius) and thermal stability
What are the two ways analytes are introduced into the instrument?
- Through organic, unpolar solvent where the compounds are extracted from the aquatic phase and into the organic phase.
- Through gas phase where the volatille analyte transfer into the headspace from the liquid
What are the three capillary GC columns and what is the stationary phase?
- Wall-coated open tubular column (stationary liquid phase)
- Porous-layer open tubular column (stationary solid phase)
- Packed column (solid support coated with stationary liquid phase)
What type of chromatography is wall-coated open tubular column?
Partition chromatography
What stationary phase does wall-coated open tubular column have?
It has a liquid stationary phase bonded to the inside of the capilary wall
What type of chromatography is porous-layer open column?
Adsorption chromatography
What stationary phase does porous-layer open tubular column have?
It has a solid stationary phase particles on the inside wall of the column
What does open tubular columns offer compared with packed columns?
- Higher resolution
- Shorter analysis time
- Greater sensitivity
- Lower sample capacity
What are the standard dimensions for a WCOT column?
length = 25 m
inner diameter = 0,25 mm
thickness of stationary phase = 0,25 micrometer
What are molecular sieves?
Molecular sieves are inorganic or organic material with cavities into which small molecules enter and are partially retained
What column has molecular sieves?
Porous-layer open tubular
What does PLOT stand for?
Porous-layer open tubular column
What does WCOT stand for?
Wall-coated open tubular column
How does the column diameter affect the resolution and why?
With decreased column diameter the volume of mobile phase also decreased. This will mean shorter diffusion distances, faster equilibrium stabilization and less mass transfer.
Plate height will decrease. Plate number and resolution will increase. This will mean a more efficient column
How does a decreased column diameter affect the retention time?
With decreased column diameter the volume of mobile phase will decrease more than the stationary phase. This means more analyte will disolve in the stationary phase and increases the retention factor and retention time
How does a larger column length affect the resolution?
Longer column will increase the plate number and create narrower peaks and higher resolution.