Dual Capillary Column System for the Qualitative Gas Chromatography: 2. Comparison between Splitless and On-Column Injection Modes

Dual Capillary Column System for the Qualitative Gas Chromatography: 2. Comparison between Splitless and On-Column Injection Modes

A dual capillary column system is described for the simultaneous analysis of a given sample and measurement of retention index (RI) and area ratio (AR) values of each peak on two capillary columns of different polarity, DB-5 & DB-1701 from a single injection. Both capillary columns were connected to either a splitless injector or an on-column injector via a deactivated fused-silica capillary tubing of 1 m length and a 'Y' splitter. Both injection modes allowed to measure RI and AR values with high reproducibility (<0.01% RSD) and high accuracy (<10% RE), respectively with the exception that the trace and high boiling solutes required the on-column mode for the accurate quantification and AR comparison. When the dual capillary column system in on-column injection mode was applied to the blind samples containing organic acids, each acid was positively indentified by the combined computer RI library search-AR comparison.