Performance of a high-sensitivity chromatographic argon lonization system as determined by calibration with a pulse technique using a solid sample injector

Abstract

The response of a small argon detector to varied amounts of fatty acid esters injected onto GLC columns is examined. In the field intensified current region, the ionization current increase of the detector is strictly linear with the concentration of the solute moving through the cell up to a generated peak height current of about 3 nA (Tables 1 and 2, as well as Figure 2). Small quantities of substances with homologous structures and of similar size give rise to current responses that correspond to their molar concentrations. Larger solute concentrations elicit a detector response following an exponential saturation function, as had become previously evident in a steady-state calibration study with propane-argon gas mixtures. A procedure for converting the present peak to the prior established time-invariant detector responses is out-lined. We thus demonstrated that the response for argon detectors, deduced from measurements of varying concentrations of propane, is also applicable to peak currents resulting from slug-injections of high-boiling solutes onto standard GLC columns.