New Developments in Multidimensional Capillary Gas Chromatography

Multi-dimensional capillary gas chromatography has been used for many years to aid in the determination of trace impurities in relatively pure products, to isolate analytes from complex matrices, and to improve chromatographic resolution. Major drawbacks to these systems have been the complexity of the hardware, difficulty of use, and system instability. A new line of multi-dimensional systems will be presented that overcome these drawbacks by using septumless sample introduction, microprocessor controlled proportional valves and electronic mass flow controllers, valveless switching, integrated analyte cold trapping, and complete Windows™ based software control. The line consists of three systems that are designed to cover all multiAN/1998/04 – 2 dimensional applications. Examples of these systems’ use will be presented covering food and flavours, industrial chemicals, environmental analysis, and large volume injection.