GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY OF TITANS ATMOSPHERE .4. ANALYSIS OF PERMANENT GASES IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDROCARBONS AND NITRILES WITH A MOLSIEVE PLOT CAPILLARY COLUMN

A Molsieve 5A wide-bore capillary column was systematically studied fo r the separation of CO and N2 in the presence of other permanent gases , including noble gases, light hydrocarbons and nitriles, which are al l plausible constituents of Titan's atmosphere. This column has a chro matographic behaviour similar to that of a molecular sieve 5A packed c olumn. The efficiency of the column, the detection limit of CO in N2 a nd the effect of the presence of nitriles in the injected samples on t he chromatographic performance of the column were characterized by det ermining Van Deemter curves for CO, N2 and noble gases at different te mperatures. This column offers a rapid separation of the selected solu tes under isothermal conditions, with about 1000 theoretical plates/m at 60-degrees-C for most of the solutes.