Characterization of 9 Gas Chromatography Columns by Linear and Lee Retention Indices for Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Polychlorinated Naphthalenes

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and naphthalenes (PCNs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants with varying degrees of toxicity. There are hundreds of possible congeners with similar chemical characteristics, which make these compounds difficult to isolate in environmental samples. Historically, PCBs and PCNs were identified by using an Aroclor or Halowax mixture instead of the individual compounds, which was impractical because of limited numbers of individual standards. A retention index database was developed with all 209 PCBs and 36 PCNs to help identify these chemicals in environmental and biological matrixes. This study uses linear and Lee retention indices to identify all 209 PCBs and 36 PCNs on nine gas chromatography columns. The most toxic congeners, the 12 dioxin-like PCBs, were compared across all columns to determine which stationary phases gave the best selectivity for those compounds. Column selectivity was also examined to determine columns for confirmatory analyses and GC×GC separations. The Rxi-17SilMS demonstrated the most drastic difference in PCB selectivity and, to a lesser extent, PCNs when compared with the other eight columns and could work as a confirmatory column or as a 2nd dimension column for GC×GC separations.

Review on stationary phases and coating methods of MEMs gas chromatography columns

Gas chromatography (GC) is an important and widely used technique for separation and analysis in the field of analytical chemistry. Micro gas chromatography has been developed in response to the requirement for on-line analysis and on-site analysis. At the core of micro gas chromatography, microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) have the advantages of small size and low power consumption. This article introduces the stationary phases of micro columns in recent years, including polymer, carbon materials, silica, gold nanoparticles, inorganic adsorbents and ionic liquids. Preparation techniques ranging from classical coating to unusual sputtering of stationary phases are reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of different preparation methods are analyzed. The paper introduces the separation characteristics and application progress of MEMs columns and discusses possible developments.

Balancing Resolution with Analysis Time for Biodiesel–Diesel Fuel Separations Using GC, PCA, and the Mahalanobis Distance

In this work, a statistical metric called the Mahalanobis distance (MD) is used to compare gas chromatography separation conditions. In the two-sample case, the MD computes the distance between the means of the multivariate probability distributions of two groups. Two gas chromatography columns of the same polarity but differing length and film thickness were utilized for the analysis of fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel fuels. Biodiesel feedstock samples representing classes of canola, coconut, flaxseed, palm kernal, safflower, soy, soyabean, sunflower, tallow, and waste grease were used in our experiments. Data sets measured from each column were aligned with the correlated optimized warping (COW) algorithm prior to principal components analysis (PCA). The PC scores were then used to compute the MD. Differences between the data produced by each column were determined by converting the MD to its corresponding p-value using the F-distribution. The combination of COW parameters that maximized the p-value were determined for each feedstock separately. The results demonstrate that chromatograms from each column could be optimally aligned to minimize the MD derived from the PC-transformed data. The corresponding p-values for each feedstock type indicated that the two column conditions could produce data that were not statistically different. As a result, the slight loss of resolution using a faster column may be acceptable based on the application for which the data are used.