Gas Chromatography (GC)

Latest News


In response to a reader's question, John Hinshaw examines the effects on retention times and peak shapes when a retention gap is added to a capillary column.

This article is an adaptation of one written in the German publication Nachrichten aus der Chemie and discusses how gas chromatography instrumentation, columns and techniques have improved over the past 10–15 years, making even relatively new equipment obsolete for many applications. In particular, the authors look at how older equipment is unsuitable for fast GC, better trace analysis and comprehensive multidimensional GC.

The effects of adding a precolumn - or retention gap - to a capillary column are explored.

GC column bleed has been postulated to be caused by "backbiting" of the siloxane chain and volatility of noncrosslinked oligimers...

In another of Ettre's historical examinations of the early days of gas chromatography, he discusses four major application fields in which the technique changed the way chemists perform analyses. These include hydrocarbon analysis, fatty acid analysis, flavour compounds and essential oils analysis, and environmental analysis. In addition, he also explains how GC helped in the evolution of liquid chromatography and in the development of the scientific industry.

This month's column examines the basic measurements of a peak's size and shape for the purposes of assessing and monitoring chromatographic separations over a period of time.

Anatomy of a Peak

In this month's "GC Connections," John Hinshaw examines the anatomy of chromatographic peaks with attention to features that help determine the suitability of individual chormatographs for a specific analysis task.

The latest newcomer to the collection of GC techniques, GCXGC, is examined in this instalment. Although this technique is capable of delivering more GC information in a shorter time than other methods, its technical complexity has slowed down widespread acceptance. John Hinshaw explains...

In the welcome return of this column, Bob McDowall revisits the evolving topic of 21 CFR 11 compliance, as it applies to chromatographers. He examines the FDA's activities in 2003 and outlines the current status of its regulations over, and guidance for, electronic records issues.