Multi-dimensional chromatography using different developing methods

Abstract

A new multi-dimensional chromatographic technique is described, μg to mg quantities from the gas chromatogram are placed on the start-line of a thin layer of adsorbent or of a sheet of chromatographic paper, which is moved past the orifice of the gas chromatograph and then developed in the usual manner. Thus, separation of the materials is obtained by exploiting the two most extreme possibilities given by the existing chromatographic methods, viz. gas—liquid chromatography, which separates according to the relative volatility of compounds (in the direction of the time-axis along the start), and thin-layer chromatography or paper chromatography, which separate according to the type of the functional group (in the vertical direction). After the extraction of the separated materials from the thin-layer or paper, GLC, on a suitably selected stationary phase, may be repeated if necessary. The theor for separation and experimental details are given. Further possibilities are obtainable by programming the driving velocity of the plate (paper) which acts in the same manner as temperature programming of a GC column. The method described was used successfully in the research on the composition of coal tar, but can be applied to other complex mixtures of compounds of different chemical character.