Skip to main content
Chemistry LibreTexts

3: Principles of Gas Chromatography

  • Page ID
    55859
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    • 3.1: Principles of Gas Chromatography
      Nowadays, gas chromatography is a mature technique, widely used worldwide for the analysis of almost every type of organic compound, even those that are not volatile in their original state but can be converted to volatile derivatives.
    • 3.2: High Performance Liquid chromatography
      High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a technique in analytical chemistry used to separate the components in a mixture, and to identify and quantify each component. It was initially discovered as an analytical technique in the early twentieth century and was first used to separate colored compounds. The word chromatography means color writing.
    • 3.3: Basic Principles of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography and Supercrtical Fluid Extraction
      The discovery of supercritical fluids led to novel analytical applications in the fields of chromatography and extraction known as supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). Supercritical fluid chromatography is accepted as a column chromatography methods along with gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
    • 3.4: Supercritical Fluid Chromatography
      A popular and powerful tool in the chemical world, chromatography separates mixtures based on chemical properties – even some than were previously thought inseparable. It combines a multitude of pieces, concepts, and chemicals to form an instrument suited to specific separation. One form of chromatography that is often overlooked is that of supercritical fluid chromatography.
    • 3.5: Ion Chromatography
      Ion Chromatography is a method of separating ions based on their distinct retention rates in a given solid phase packing material. Given different retention rates for two anions or two cations, the elution time of each ion will differ, allowing for detection and separation of one ion before the other.
    • 3.6: Capillary Electrophoresis
      Capillary electrophoresis (CE) encompasses a family of electrokinetic separation techniques that uses an applied electric field to separate out analytes based on their charge and size. The basic principle is hinged upon that of electrophoresis, which is the motion of particles relative to a fluid (electrolyte) under the influence of an electric field.

    Thumbnail: A gas chromatography oven, open to show a capillary column. (CC BY-SA 4.0; Polimerek)


    This page titled 3: Principles of Gas Chromatography is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Pavan M. V. Raja & Andrew R. Barron (OpenStax CNX) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.