Describe the general principle of how a GC works

Gas chromatography commonly abbreviated as (GC) is a genre of chromatography that

is applied in analytical chemistry for the separation and analysis of compounds that can be turned

to vapor without them decomposing. The presence of a carrier gas phase (mobile phase) enables

this genre of chromatography to be very valuable when it comes to the separation of substances

like naturally occurring VOCs or those that are easily placed into a gaseous phase (Hübschmann,

Hans-Joachim). This exact feature enables this genre of chromatography to be very practical in

the examination of various volatile chemicals that are applied in certain fields like forensic

analysis, petroleum products, and environmental testing.

The first major part of a GC is the gas source, tasked with the function of supplying an

inert gas during the mobile phase. This source is usually a fully equipped gas cylinder that has

pressure regulators to control the rate of the mobile phase delivery The second component of the

GC is the injection port, that is made up of a heated system or loop, whereby the sample is

placed and transformed to a gaseous state. The third component of the Gas Chromatograph is the

column. This column holds the support material and stationary phase required for separating

components within the sample. The column is set up within an area that is enclosed commonly

referred to as the column oven. The column oven is used to maintain the temperature at a clearly

specified value. The fourth component of the Gas Chromatograph system is a detector, and it is

accompanied by a recorder, that is equipped to monitor the sample components as they exit the

column. A plotted representation of the responsivity of the detector against the elapsed duration

since the sample was injected into a Gas Chromatograph system is defined as a gas
chromatograph (Littlewood, Anthon).

Clues used to identify the peak can be attained through the comparison of the retention time

attributed to the peak that was identified for the injection of a specific sample of the suspected

chemical specimen. The process may be assisted by the use of a detector that selectively

monitors and confirms the composition of the eluting compound. Once the peak is established,

the comparison of the height or peak area to the one acquired for the injection of a similar

analyte, the amount of analyte in the peak can be easily determined. A standard that is internal is

usually applied as part of the process to attribute to the differences in analyte content that may

have happened during the injection or preparation stages.

Explain how a thermal conductivity detector works

The thermal conductivity detector is made up of an electrically heated filament within a

temperature-regulated cell. In normal conditions the flow of heat from the filament to the

detector body is stable there is a stable. The thermal conductivity of the column effluent reduces

when an analyte elutes, the resistance changes as the filament heats up. This variation in

resistance is usually sensed by the Wheatstone bridge circuit producing a notable change in

voltage. The column effluent covers one of the resistors and the other resistor is covered by the

reference flow in a circuit comprising of four-resistors.

Due to the fact that all compounds, inorganic or organic, have a thermal conductivity that

differs from that of helium, each compound is detectable by this device. The TDC is usually

known as a universal detection device due to it responsivity to all compounds. Additionally, due

to the similarity in thermal conductivity of compounds that are organic and their variation to
helium, the thermal conductivity detector will similarly respond to similar are similar and very

different from helium, a similar concentration of analyte will result in a similar response. Thus

the thermal conductivity detector is usable without calibration and an estimated ratio of the

analyte peak area of a sample can be used to determine the concentration.

The thermal conductivity detector is an efficient all-purpose detector to use on initial

investigations with samples that are unknown. Due to the less sensitivity of a TCD as compared

to the flame ionization detector, its resolution as the FID will not be ideal especially because of

the large dead volume(Garg, Apoorva). Nonetheless, a combination of thick columns of film and

corresponding large volumes of the sample will make the entire detection limit the same as the

one of a FID. Even though a thermal conductivity detector is less sensitive compared to the rest

of the detectors used in the lab, it is not destructive and it is not specific

If you are given a sample of potassium tert-butoxide can you use the GC to analyze it?

● No potassium tert-butoxide cannot be used/eliminated on gas chromatography.

Potassium tert-butoxide melts at 256 °C. However if it vaporizes before decomposing,

the boiling point is usually way higher than this; This is probably above the safe working
temperature of a gas chromatograph (Kraft, Vadim).

Additionally, potassium tert butoxide is an ionic base. Thus when an ion is put on a gas

chromatography column there are two likelihoods.

1) The ion will bind to the stationary phase irreversibly since it cannot be volatilized.

Furthermore, their vapor pressures are usually very high

2) The ion will get converted to a different ionic compound in which the organic fraction will

become a neutral compound and the neutral compound will eliminate from the gas

chromatography column.

Potassium tert-butoxide will mostly result in likelihood ‘1’ and thus it cannot be used/eliminated

on gas chromatography

Works Cited

Garg, Apoorva, et al. "Zebra GC: A mini gas chromatography system for trace-level

determination of hazardous air pollutants." Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 212

(2015): 145-154.

Hübschmann, Hans-Joachim. Handbook of GC-MS: fundamentals and applications. John Wiley

& Sons, 2015.

Kraft, Vadim, et al. "Study of decomposition products by gas chromatography-mass

spectrometry and ion chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in

 thermally decomposed lithium hexafluorophosphate-based lithium ion battery

electrolytes." RSC Advances 5.98 (2015): 80150-80157.

Littlewood, Anthony Blair. Gas chromatography: principles, techniques, and applications.

Elsevier, 2013.