Application of a thermal desorption cold trap injector to multidimensional GC and GC‐MS

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AbstractThe Thermal desorption Cold Trap injector (TCT) was used as a part of modified multidimensional GC (MDGC) or MDGC mass spectroscopy (MS) systems. These systems were based on a preparative GC (GC1), an analytical GC (GC2), or GC‐MS and the TCT. The TCT was mounted on the GC2 or GC‐MS. Analysis was carried out as follows: first, the volatile compounds heart‐cut after separation on the GC1 column were adsorbed onto the Porapak Q column out of the GC1 oven. This Porapak Q column was then coupled to the TCT, and the volatile compounds adsorbed on the Porapak Q were thermally desorbed, cold trapped, and injected onto an analytical column in the GC2 or GC‐MS. Repeatability of the retention time (RT) and area % of model samples consisting of citronellol, decanol, and geranyl acetate was examined. Also, the volatile compounds present at very low concentrations in ethanol solution were concentrated on the Porapak Q column. These were injected onto the analytical column by the same method as described above, and the repeatability of the RT and area % on the chromatogram was examined. In the two experiments, the standard deviation of the RT and area % for each compound was about 0.02 and less than 2.85, respectively. A commercial geranium oil was successfully analyzed by this technique. The results indicate that this modified MDGC and MDGC‐MS system are very useful for detection and determination of compounds in complex mixtures.