Evaluating the Holdup Time of Gas-Chromatographic Systems in Various Temperature Regimes by Using Recurrent Relations

Anomalous temperature dependence of gas chromatographic retention indices of polar compounds on non-polar stationary phases

Increasing the reliability of both GC and GC-MS identification requires appropriate interlaboratory reproducibility of gas chromatographic retention indices (I). Known temperature dependence, I(T), is the main source of non-reproducibility of these parameters. It can be approximated with a simple linear function I(T). However, since mid-1990s-beginning of 2000s some examples of anomalous temperature dependence, I(T), preferably for polar analytes on non-polar stationary phases were revealed independently by different authors. The effect implies the variations in the sign of the temperature coefficients β=dI/dT for selected compounds and, hence, the appearance of the I-extrema (usually, minima). The current work provides evidence that the character of the anomalous I(Т) dependences (ascending, descending, or with extrema) is strongly influenced by the amounts of analytes injected into the chromatographic column, but these anomalies appeared not to be connected directly with the mass overloading of separation systems. The physicochemical model is proposed to describe the observed anomalies of I(T) dependence. This model is based on three previously known principles of chromatography, namely: The superposition of these objectives allows understanding both the unusual temperature dependence of retention indices, and the influence of the amounts of polar analytes injected into GC column on the parameters of this dependence.

Overloading control of gas chromatographic systems

Increasing the interlaboratory reproducibility of gas chromatographic retention indices requires avoiding measurements distorted by overloading effects. Several criteria of evaluating the limits of the mass overloading of gas chromatographic systems are compared and reconsidered. The criteria mostly appropriate for practical purposes are based on (i) the dependences of factors of peak broadening (ratio of peak height and its width) vs. amount of analyte injected into the chromatographic column and (ii) the dependence of parameters characterizing the peak distortion (asymmetry factor) vs. the amount of analyte. Both these criteria provide mutually comparable evaluations of the overloading limits for analytes of different polarity. At the same time, the dependence of retention indices vs. amounts of analyte injected in the chromatographic column cannot be recommended for overloading control, because the parameters of the corresponding linear regressions indicate temperature dependence. The interpretation of certain gas chromatographic anomalies requires the correct evaluation of overloading limits. For example, the unusual temperature dependence of retention indices of polar analytes on non-polar stationary phases and the dependence of retention indices on ratio of amounts of target analytes and reference compounds.