A novel ultrashort capillary gas chromatography method using on-column injection and detection

Abstract

A novel method for ultrashort capillary column gas chromatography (GC) analysis is introduced, which employs on-column injection and detection and rapid temperature programming. Using 10–20 cm long capillary columns, results showed that the method provides efficient and very rapid separations for relatively simple mixtures. Moreover, the on-column aspect of the method used here is demonstrated to avoid the extra column analyte degradation that can occur in traditional approaches to such separations. As a result, the developed method allows for the first time the GC analysis of some very large and (or) highly thermally labile analytes, such as polypeptides and drug molecules that are normally prone to decomposition. As an application, this method is further used to monitor pharmaceutical degradant formation as a function of temperature and was found to provide similar results to those obtained from conventional high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Overall, the findings indicate that this ultrashort GC column approach could be useful in these areas and potentially others, where relatively simple GC analysis and universal flame ionization detection is desirable.