In: Chemistry
Suppose we are running a Gas Chromatography for a mixture of standard alkanes (C5-C18) in hexane solvent. How do we determine which alkanes are present in the standard from the chromatogram?
In gas chromatography, the mobile phase is a gas usually nitrogen, helium, argon or hydrogen. The analyte can be either naturally volatile or volatile derivative. The stationary phase can be either nonvolatile liquid bound to a solid support or underivatized solid particles. Depending on the interaction with the stationary phase the components in the analyte are separated. The interacting force can be vanderwaals, dipole-dipole or hydrogen bonding. If a component is interacting strongly with the stationary phase then it will be retained for a long time and will have long retention time as compared to a component which is weakly interacting. And components of similar polarity elute in the order of volatility. Thus lower boiling alkanes have short retention time than higher boiling alkanes. The boiling point of straight chain alkanes follows a linear relationship, nearly 20-30 degree Celsius rise for each carbon added to the chain. Thus C5 has a low boiling point and get eluted first as compared to C18