STAINLESS-STEEL CAPILLARY COLUMNS FOR HIGH-TEMPERATURE GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A layer of elemental silicon has been deposited on the surface of stai nless steel tubing by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Two ki nds of capillary column were prepared from the deactivated tubing: cro ss-linked, silanol-terminated polydimethylsiloxane wall coated open tu bular (WCOT) columns and molecular sieve 13X porous layer open tubular (PLOT) columns. Unlike fused silica capillary columns, stainless stee l WCOT and PLOT columns can be operated at temperatures in excess of 4 00-degrees-C. High temperature simulated distillation has been perform ed successfully with a macro bore WCOT column and rapid PNA (paraffin, naphthene, and aromatic) analysis with a multidimensional gas solid c hromatographic (GSC) system using PLOT columns.