Peter Tranchida on Cryogenic Band Compression in Food Analysis

At analytica 2026 in Munich, Germany, LCGC International spoke to Peter Tranchida from the University of Messina about his talk entitled: “Cryogenic band compression as a means to simplify the sample preparation step in 1D and comprehensive 2D GC food analysis”.¹

Cryogenic modulation, a cornerstone of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC), compresses analyte bands to dramatically improve detectability. Beyond signal enhancement, this intra-column reconcentration effect offers an underappreciated advantage: it simplifies sample preparation by reducing reliance on solvent- and reagent-heavy workflows. In his talk, Tranchida presented several food analysis examples to illustrate how cryogenic focusing can streamline the analytical process from sample to result.

In this video interview, Tranchida answers the following questions:

• The central argument of your work is that cryogenic band compression can reduce or even eliminate the need for elaborate sample preparation steps — but how far do you think this principle can be pushed, and are there classes of food matrices or target analytes where simplifying sample preparation in this way will always remain fundamentally limited?
• Official methods for contaminants like PAHs in food still rely on lengthy, solvent-intensive extraction and clean-up procedures that were designed long before tools like CBC GC×GC were available — what do you think it would realistically take to get a simplified, cryogenic-modulation-based approach accepted by regulatory bodies as an alternative to established methods?

Peter Tranchida is a full professor at the University of Messina in Italy. He is also on the organizing committee for the 44th International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography (ISCC) and the 21st GC×GC Symposium, to be held May 17–22, 2026.²

References

1. Tranchida, P. Cryogenic band compression as a means to simplify the sample preparation step in 1D and comprehensive 2D GC food analysis. Presented at analytica 2026, in Munich, Germany. https://analytica.de/en/event-program/conference/lecture/cryogenic-band-compression-as-a-means-to-simplify-the-sample-preparation-step-in-1d-and-comprehensive-2d-gc-food-analysis-16279/ (accessed 2026-04-01).
2. Matheson, A. Riva Returns Alive and Kicking, https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/riva-returns-alive-and-kicking (accessed 2026-04-01).