Flow-modulation low-pressure comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography.

The present paper contains research data relative to an approach herein defined as flow-modulation (FM) low-pressure comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, abbreviated as "GC×LP GC". The abbreviation LP is positioned before the second GC abbreviation because LP conditions were generated across a mega-bore second-dimension column (10m×0.53mm ID), it being connected to a quadrupole mass spectrometer (qMS). Flow modulation was performed with MS-compatible gas flows (7-8mL/min), following recent research work [7]; using such an approach, the main disadvantage of flow modulation, specifically the generation of excessively high second-dimension flows, is avoided. A further noteworthy aspect of the investigation was the use of a long accumulation loop (e.g., 51cm), a modification that greatly improved the general post-modulation peak shape quality. FM GC×LP GC-qMS applications on pure standard compounds, as well as on milk and fish oil fatty acid methyl esters, are shown and discussed.
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