HIGH-PRESSURE MICROCOLUMN GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

High-pressure gas chromatography (HPGC) has been carried out on 250-mu m-i.d. fused silica columns packed with 5-mu m-particle-diameter sili ca particles with a variety of bonded groups. The controlling factor i s shown to be the mass transfer term describing the kinetics of adsorp tion and desorption, and the process is best described as gas-solid ch romatography. Van Deemter curves show little plate height increase wit h mobile phase velocity (u) at high u; reduced plate heights of 5 were observed for a high carbon loaded C-18 bonded silica. A column packed with this stationary phase generated 130 plates per second. Potential applications of HPGC to hydrocarbon analysis are: discussed. Rapid se parations of C-2 hydrocarbons on a fullerene-coated silica are describ ed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.