Gas Chromatography (GC) Joe Keane is getting ready to analyze a
sample on the Hewlett-Packard GC. Gas Chromatography (GC) is one
of the most effective separation technique known to chemists.
Chromatography is always based on the partitioning of a mixture
between a stationary phase and a mobile phase. In GC, the mobile
phase is a gas (either He or N2) and the stationary phase is
some waxy liquid coated within an inert support tube. Separtion
is based on the relative volatilities of the various mixture
components (more volatile components travel faster in the
gaseous mobile phase). We use our GC's for reaction monitoring
and quantitative work. The department possesses a Hewlett-
Packard 5800 GC and a Varian 3700 GC, both equipped with
capillary columns and flame ionization detectors. The Thermo
mass spectrometer is also mated to a Thermo Trace GC.