Gas chromatography (GC) can be a challenging subject to grapple with. However, if you first understand the fundamentals of this subject matter, you’ll be in a better position to understand it.
You may be already familiar with GC but wondering how you read a gas chromatogram. Then you might want to know how to read the results that you’ve gathered.
If so, read on with this helpful guide about gas chromatography. We’ll explain what it is in simple terms, its procedure, and cover GC vials and caps. Now, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What Is Gas Chromatography?
Scientists use gas chromatography as an analytical method to separate different compounds in sample mixtures. They then identify their level of absence or presence.
Organic gases or molecules are the most common chemical compounds. These compounds must be volatile and have a molecular weight under 1250 Da. They must also be stable thermally so that they do not deteriorate inside the GC system. If you can meet these conditions, you’ll be on your way towards a successful analysis using GC.
GC Vials
For the analytical method to be accurate, it’s crucial to use specialist GC vials. You may also know these types of vials as crimp-style vials.
GC vials and caps work with almost all GC autosamplers. The reason why you need these types of vials is they’re built to handle volatile compounds. They also make use of a reliable seal for this sort of work.
How Does the Analysis Work?
If you have a sample, not in a gas state, you volatilize and inject it in your gas chromatograph’s injection port. The gases are then sent down a column. This column is coated with a substance that attracts the various compounds in a mixture to different degrees.
During this stationary phase, the amount of attraction enables compounds’ separation. The compounds will also elute at various periods, appearing as peaks on your chromatogram.
How To Read Gas Chromatograms?
You have an x and y-axis to look at.
The x-axis indicates the time it takes for analytes to travel through the column to the mass spectrometer detector. The peaks on this reading show the timeframes.
The y-axis will indicate to you the number of particular analytes there are in the process. In simple terms, you are looking at the region of the different peaks, which are different for the specific compounds.
Gas Chromatography
We now hope you know a little more about gas chromatography and what you use it for. Furthermore, we mentioned the importance of proper GC vials and gave a simplistic explanation of reading a gas chromatograph.
There is, of course, a whole lot more to look into with this method of analysis. But, we understood with this post that sometimes a simple explanation can be valuable.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this post. If you want to learn about other similar subjects, please click over to our blog page.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this post. If you want to learn about other similar subjects, please click over to our blog page.
-
-
-
-
-
-
