Gas Chromatography GC Principles and

Environment Canada, Environmental Technology Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada KIA 0H3 

In 1955 Glueckauf [4] derived the first comprehensive equation describing the relationship between height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) and 

Today gas chromatography is likely the most widely used instrumental technique in the world, and its annual growth is above the average growth of the analytical instrument industry. One survey reports that the worldwide sales of GC instruments and accessories in 1990 were U.S. 700 miUions [6]. An estimated 23,300 GC systems were sold in 1990 [6]. This number is higher than any other analytical instruments sold in the same year. 

Gas chromatography has been widely used in foods, petroleum products, pesticide and pesticide residues, pharmaceutical products, environmental monitoring, chnical chemistry and a number of other fields. The major advantages of modern GC reside in the high resolution, the speed, the sensitivity, and the precision and the accuracy that characterises it. An overview of each factor is given below. 

Speed Most chromatograms are complete in a matter of minutes. For some simple samples, analysis times of seconds are even possible. 

---