Despite steadily losing ground to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) over the years, particularly for polar compounds, gas chromatography (GC) remains one of the more rapid and efficient chromatographic methods.

Capillary columns have changed the face of GC since their introduction about 35 years ago. The most obvious change involves resolving power: up to 50,000 theoretical plates on a 30-m capillary versus 1500 on a six-foot packed column.

Thermo Fisher’s Eric Phillips, describes the adoption of MS detectors in GC as a “technology shift” that began with single-quad MS as an alternative to standard GC detection modes.

The proverbial “ounce of prevention” goes a long way toward preventing serious GC downtime. Keeping up with routine maintenance is the secret to ensuring that scheduled maintenance downtime occurs on the lab’s terms, not by fickle fate.

Process GC involves the deployment of rugged, reliable gas chromatographs in demanding process environments. Where traditional sampling and analysis occurs off-site in analytical laboratories, process GC brings the “lab” to the production site, providing realtime product analysis.

This month Lab Manager poses four questions on GC usage, likes, and dislikes to a panel of five experts