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We might well ask “Where is gas chromatography (GC) heading?” For many analysts, the answer may be just “more of the same,” reflecting that GC is mature and that most analysis tasks and sample types have been tried and tested. In this scenario, any changes to the basic method may be marginal—sample introduction, and maybe a new detector? But beneath this status quo is an undercurrent of passion, excitement, and power.

Candida antarctica lipase A (CALA) was applied for the chemo-selective enzymatic transesterification of terpene and phenyl alcohols in 35 different essential oil samples. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC×GC‒MS) analysis enabled the separation and tentative identification of a cohort of 125 compounds, allowing the instant visualisation of the reaction process changes, amid the complex chemical background of the samples. The results indicate that 42 out of 79 alcohols so-identified were fully or partially esterified within 48 h of reaction, with primary alcohols being the substrates of preference of the enzyme (90–100% conversion), followed by secondary alcohols (mostly ~ 80–100% conversion). No significant conversion of tertiary alcohols and phenols was observed using the tested conditions. Overall, the enzyme’s performance was consistent for primary alcohol substrates identified in multiple samples of different compositions. The observed selectivity, efficiency, robustness, scalability (enzyme/substrate working concentration ratio > 1:160), potential reusability, mild reaction conditions, and other factors make this process a greener and more sustainable alternative for industry applications, particularly for the manufacture of novel flavours and fragrances. Graphical Abstract

The detection of human-derived metabolites as potential diagnostic biomarkers of genetic disorders, metabolic diseases, systemic diseases, and infectious diseases has been much studied in recent years, especially as technical capabilities improve, and statistical procedures are increasingly able to tease critical chemical attributes from complex data sets. Given the complex distribution of human biological matrices, the characterization and/or identification of these chemical entities is technically challenging, and is often confounded by incomplete chromatographic resolution or insufficient discriminatory power of the mass spectrometry (MS) domain. Recently, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) has evolved into a mature higher separation order technique that offers unprecedented resolving power, which in turn can greatly advantage clinical metabolomics studies

Chiral separation membranes have shown great potential for efficient separation of racemic mixtures into enantiopure components for many applications such as in food and pharmaceutical industries; however, scalable fabrication of membranes with both high enantioselectivity and flux remains a challenge. Herein, enantiopure S -poly(2,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline) ( S -PdMeOx) macromonomers were synthesized and used to prepare a new type of enantioselective membrane consisting of a chiral S -PdMeOx network scaffolded by graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The S -PdMeOx-based membrane showed near-quantitative enantiomeric excess ( ee ) (98.3 ± 1.7%) of S -(-)-limonene over R -(+)-limonene and a flux of 0.32 mmol m -2 h -1 . This work demonstrates the potential of homochiral poly(2,4-disubstituted-2-oxazoline)s in chiral discrimination and provides a new route to the development of highly efficient enantioselective membranes using synthetic homochiral polymer networks.

An improved strategy for compound identification incorporating gas chromatography hyphenated with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy (GC-FTIR/MS) is reported. (Over)reliance on MS may lead either to ambiguous identity or to incorrect identification of a compound. However, the MS result is useful to provide a cohort of possible compounds. The IR result for each tentative compound match was then simulated using molecular modeling, to provide functional group and isomer differentiation information, and then compared with the experimental FTIR result, offering identification based on both MS and IR. Several basis sets were evaluated for IR simulations; Def2-TZVPP was a suitable basis set and correlated well with experimental data. The approach was applied to industrial applications, confirming the isomers of 2,3-bis(thiosulfanyl)-but-2-enedinitrile, bromination products of 1-bromo-2,3-dimethylbenzene, and autoxidative degradation of phenyl-di-tert-butylphosphine.

The performance of different enzymes towards the bioprocessing of aroma-related compounds was investigated and a strategy based on GC-FID analysis was developed to facilitate assessment of the stages of characterisation, screening and optimisation, including chiral ratio determination. Characterisation included activity assays (UV-Vis and GC-FID), protein quantification (NanoDrop spectrophotometry) and molar mass estimation (SDS-PAGE electrophoresis). Screening experiments assessed different enzymes, substrates, solvents, acyl donors or mediators. Aroma-related substrates comprised terpene and phenolic compounds. The enzymes tested included the lipases CALA (Sigma-Aldrich), NZ-435, LZ-TLIM, NC-ADL, LZ-CALBL and the laccases NZ-51003 and DL-IIS (all from Novozymes). Among those, NZ-435 and NZ-51003 had the highest activities in the characterisation stage and, along with CALA, achieved conversions above 70% for citronellol (lipases) or 50% for eugenol (laccases) at the screening stage. The lipases had preference for the primary alcohol and laccases for phenolic compounds, among the tested substrates. The transesterification reaction between the lipase CALA and the standards mixture (citronellol, menthol, linalool) was used to demonstrate the optimisation stage, where the best levels of temperature, enzyme and acyl donor concentrations were investigated. Optimum conditions were found to be 37-40 °C, 3-4 mg/mL of enzyme and 58-60% (v/v) vinyl acetate. Additional confirmation experiments using the same terpene standards mixture and citronella oil sample, gave a conversion of 95% for citronellol after 1 h (for both, standards mixture and sample), and 20% or 74% for menthol after 1 h or 24 h, respectively. None of the tested enzymes demonstrated significant enantioselectivity under the tested conditions. The GC-FID approach demonstrated here was suitable to determine the reaction profiles and chiral ratio variations for biocatalysed reactions with aroma compounds in low complexity samples. Advanced separations will be applied to more complex samples in the future.

Traditionally, wine producers perform early wine quality prediction on-site based on the berry morphological and sensory characteristics together with the measurement of basic chemical parameters. Incorporating analysis on grape and wine volatiles could potentially achieve accurate prediction of wine quality, but forming these models requires careful selection of grapes, controlled fermentations and standardised quality assessment. Here, we present 3 models for the prediction of quality in Shiraz wine. Modelling was done by general regression analysis with 4-fold cross-validation. Model 1 (R 2 = 99.97% and 4-fold R 2 = 97.61%) for prediction of wine quality from wine volatiles, Model 2 (R 2 = 99.89% and 4-fold R 2 = 98.42%) for early prediction of wine quality from free- and glycosidically- bound grape volatiles, and Model 3 (R 2 = 91.62% and 4-fold R 2 = 80.21%) for prediction of wine quality from free grape volatiles only. The accuracy of these models presents an advancement in the early prediction of wine quality and provide a valuable tool to assist grape growers and winemakers in understanding quality in the vineyard to better direct scarce resources.

This study develops analytical approaches using comprehensive heart-cut multidimensional gas chromatography (H/C MDGC) to experimentally investigate effects of concentration and temperature on peak shapes and on kinetic analysis of E/Z isomerisation of oximes which undergo various extents of interconversion on 1D and 2D separation columns. Different stationary phase combinations were investigated. An SLB-IL76 1D column results in good separation of the isomers but with negligible interconversion (1Dsep). Precise targeted heart-cuts (H/C; 3–15 s windows) and cryogenic trapping of selected sections eluting from this 1D column allows well controlled E/Z isomer ratios to be delivered to a 2D poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEG) phase column. This phase catalyses oxime interconversion, with separation; this is termed 2Dinter. This column set describes a 1Dsep × 2Dinter arrangement. The interconversion forward rate constant ( k 1 UE , calculated by using DCXplorer) was found to be independent of the %E isomer (i.e. first order kinetics); k 1 UE increased at higher temperature (increased Gibbs activation energies, ΔGapp). In addition, a long 1D SLB-IL111 column gave oxime separation with interconversion (1Dinter). Comprehensive multiple H/C of the zone performed on the 2D PEG (2Dinter) at 40, 60 and 80 °C resulted in a 2D presentation (1Dinter × 2Dinter) with a unique rectangular display of interconversion from each H/C pulse with varied isomer concentration ratios. Data for k 1 UE from 1DGC analysis suggests underestimation of k 1 UE on 1Dinter SLB-IL111 from the 2D result. The k 1 UE value on 2Dinter PEG column is more reliably evaluated by summation of all the 2Dinter profiles rather than that obtained from the average value for the individual H/C pulses.

In the present study, liquid chromatography coupled to an Orbitrap mass spectrometer (HPLC–Q-Orbitrap MS) was used as an approach for identification and quantification of 113 drugs simultaneously in biological samples (whole blood/plasma/serum). Samples were prepared using liquid–liquid extraction conducted using a trizma/isopropanol/butyl chloride buffer system. Reversed-phase separation employing a column (50 × 2.1 mm) packed with 2.6-μm C18 particles was then performed under gradient elution with mobile phase composition consisting of acetic acid and aqueous-acetonitrile mixtures with the acetonitrile content ranging from 10 to 100% v/v. Compounds were detected with high-resolution MS operated in full scan mode having a mass accuracy

Homochiral metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes have been recently reported for chiral separations. However, only a few high-quality homochiral polycrystalline MOF membranes have been fabricated due to the difficulty in crystallization of a chiral MOF layer without defects on porous substrates. Alternatively, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs), which combine potential advantages of MOFs and polymers, have been widely demonstrated for gas separation and water purification. Here we report novel homochiral MOF-polymer MMMs for efficient chiral separation. Homochirality was successfully incorporated into achiral MIL-53-NH2 nanocrystals by post-synthetic modification with amino acids, such as l-histidine (l-His) and l-glutamic acid (l-Glu). The MIL-53-NH-l-His and MIL-53-NH-l-Glu nanocrystals were then embedded into polyethersulfone (PES) matrix to form homochiral MMMs, which exhibited excellent enantioselectivity for racemic 1-phenylethanol with the highest enantiomeric excess value up to 100 %. This work, as an example, demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating diverse large-scale homochiral MOF-based MMMs for chiral separation.

The solid-phase extraction of several polyphenolic compounds with different silica hydride-based stationary phases, as well as an unmodified type-B silica, has been investigated. In particular, the propensities of these stationary phases to extract the selected polyphenolic compounds in the batch-binding mode in the presence of 100% methanol or 50% (v/v) aqueous/methanol solvents have been examined. In addition, the zeta-potential values of these different sorbents have been determined in the same solvent compositions. The results indicated that the batch-extraction behaviour of these polyphenolic compounds with the type-B silica, unmodified silica hydride, the Diamond Hydride™ particles, silica hydride particles modified with immobilized phenyl groups or with other non-polar ligands of larger steric size, such as bidentate octyl, bidentate octadecyl, or cholesteryl groups, did not overall correlate with the particle’s zeta-potential values. However, these results indicated that the selectivity attributes in solid-phase extraction procedures of different types of silica hydride materials with polyphenolic compounds can be differentiated from experimental data acquired with small quantities of structurally related test analytes under aqueous normal-phase conditions solely from physical measurement methods, such as static batch-extraction measurements and associated GS–qMS methods of analysis.

In this work, a method for the analysis of benzoylurea insecticides, including hexaflumuron, flufenoxuron, lufenuron and chlorfluazuron, in tea samples by high-performance liquid chromatography with Fe3 O4 -hyperbranched polyester nanocomposite as the adsorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction was developed. The magnetic nanocomposite was prepared and characterized by infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, and scanning electron microscopy. The as-prepared nanocomposite was used as a sorbent for the extraction and preconcentration of pesticide residues in tea samples. The extraction and desorption conditions, including mass ratios of raw materials, amount of sorbent, pH value, extraction time, and desorption time, were investigated. Under the final conditions chosen for the analysis, good linearity was obtained for all the tested compounds, with R2 values of at least 0.9979. The limits of detection were determined in the range of 0.15-0.3 μg/L. The recovery obtained from the analysis of tea samples with various spiked concentrations was between 90.7 and 98.4%, with relative standard deviations (n = 4) lower than 4.1%. Furthermore, the present approach was successfully applied to the quantitative determination of residues of benzoylurea insecticides in real samples.

In contrast to the well-known comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) method, it is possible to define comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography. ‘Comprehensiveness’ relates to analysis of the whole sample. Two-dimensional and multidimensional here refer to the use of at least two separation stages for analysis, however comprehensive 2DGC now appears to be reserved for the GC×GC method. This may be differentiated from comprehensive MDGC (CMDGC) simply by the analysis time assigned to the second (2D) column, although there does not appear to be a specific definition that relates to this analysis time parameter. A number of different implementation protocols for comprehensive MDGC are described here, that may involve either a single, or multiple, injection(s). In all cases, independent retention must be achieved on each dimension to ensure the probability of enhanced separation. An original application of a crude oil sample is presented to illustrate development of the MDGC approach that incorporates two Deans switches (DS) and a cryogenic trapping approach, performed using a sequential heart-cut (H/C) event method incremented by 0.5 min for each injection; a total of 40 injections is used to analyse the total sample. The higher peak capacity and consequently greater resolution on the long 2D column is illustrated, compared with that expected for conventional GC×GC, with tentative identification in order to classify chemical classes. Incorporating an approach to acquiring retention indices may be implemented, although its utility for petroleum hydrocarbons is limited. Structured groupings of different chemical classes, as exemplified by mono and diaromatics for the crude oil sample, were noted.

A data interpretation and processing approach for improved compound identification and data presentation in comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) is described. A footprint peak of a compound in 2D space can be represented by a centroid or peak apex, similar to the data-reduced histogram spectra used in mass spectrometry. The workflow was demonstrated on data from GC×GC-TOFMS. Peaks in a modulated chromatogram were initially detected by conventional chromatographic integration, followed by a curve-fitting approach, which interpolated high-precision, absolute retention times for all modulated peaks. First dimension retention time (1tR) was obtained by using an exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) fitting model for near-Gaussian distributed subpeaks, polynomial fitting for highly asymmetrical peaks, and parabolic fitting for under-sampled peaks, which allows determination of a precise 1tR, considering the dwell-time arising from modulation and 2tR. Area summation of the modulated peaks belonging to the same compound was then performed to yield the total peak area. Each compound in the GC×GC-MS result was then represented by its position at the intersecting coordinates, (1tR, 2tR), in the 2D separation plane, having a height of the same magnitude as the total component summed area. This results in a novel and uncluttered GC×GC output convention based on the scripted total ion chromatogram (TIC) data with precise 1tR, 2tR, and area. Comparison between the contour plots from the scripted and conventional TIC revealed improved data presentation, accompanied by an apparent enhanced resolution. The described approach was applied to the identification of 177 aroma compounds from peaches as indicators of fruit quality.

Sapucainha oil, which may be used to treat leprosy, comprises straight chain and cyclic fatty acids (FA), and triacylglycerols (TAG). The FA and TAG content of the oil sample was analysed using gas chromatography–electron ionisation mass spectrometry (GC–EIMS). FA analysis was performed after derivatisation to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). For free FA and TAG analysis, the oil sample was dissolved in hexane and injected into a short, high-temperature column, for GC with MS analysis. Free FA and FAME were tentatively identified based on mass spectrum information of their molecular and fragment ions, as well as library matching. Overlapping TAG peaks were deconvoluted based on mass fingerprint data. The FA composition was utilised to predict possible TAG identities. FA residues of TAG were identified based on characteristic fragment ions, such as [M–RCO2]+, [RCO+128]+, [RCO+74]+ and RCO+ where R is the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain. FAME analysis showed that the cyclic FA hydnocarpic (36.1%), chaulmoogric (26.5%) and gorlic (23.6%) acids were the major components. In addition, straight chain FA such as palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids were detected. Palmitic, oleic, hydnocarpic, chaulmoogric and gorlic acids were also detected as free FA in the oil sample. Six groups of TAG peaks were eluted from GC at temperatures ≥330 °C. After deconvolution and mass spectrum analysis, each TAG peak group was revealed to comprise 2 to 5 co-eluted TAG molecules; >18 TAG were identified. These TAG consisted of a mix of both cyclic and straight chain FA, but were mostly derived from cyclic FA.

The definition of a chromatographic analysis speed based simply on analysis time is an outdated concept to define conventional chromatography, fast chromatography, and emerging high-resolution techniques such as comprehensive two-dimensional and comprehensive three-dimensional gas chromatography. Here, the metric average theoretical peak time (ATPT) is proposed for separation speed, considering conventional and multidimensional separations. ATPT can be defined as the time (in ms per peak) needed to elute a theoretical peak in a chromatographic system. Using this metric, it is possible to define ranges, proposed for a normal speed (ATPT higher than 4000 ms/peak), high speed (ATPT range from 600 to 4000 ms/peak), very high speed (ATPT range from 200 to 600 ms/peak), hyper speed (ATPT range from 3.3 to 200 ms/peak) and ultra high speed chromatography (ATPT lower than 3.3 ms/peak), that combines time and efficiency metrics. This metric was applied in several contexts to demonstrate its robustness to evaluate chromatographic separations for different techniques and analytical conditions. Applications also demonstrate the advantages of the use of ATPT as a method development metric tool.

Methods to identify and quantify synthetic phenolic antioxidants, 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), tert-butyl-hydroquinone (TBHQ) and propyl gallate (PG), in biodiesel samples by using reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC) were developed. Using a C18 phase with LC and UV detection showed co-elution between BHT and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) in the biodiesel sample, whereas an alkyl phenyl modified stationary phase resulted in good separation of all antioxidants from the fatty acid matrix, and allowed more accurate quantification of antioxidants in biodiesel samples. The latter column was applied for further study. Calibration curves for the four antioxidants were constructed, and the limit of detection estimated. Good calibration linearity was observed over the investigated concentration range of 10–80 ppm, with correlation coefficients (R2) ranging from 0.9986 to 0.9995 for all antioxidants. LOD values of 0.010, 0.015, 0.0125 and 0.030 ppm, and recoveries of 70 ± 2, 85 ± 2, 103 ± 2 and 92 ± 4% for PG, TBHQ, BHA and BHT at injected concentrations of 35 ppm were established, respectively. The method was applied for quantification of antioxidants in biodiesel without addition of spiked antioxidants, then for biodiesel spiked with the four antioxidants, and a commercial source of biodiesel with BHT addition. Identification of FAME in the biodiesel samples was performed by using an instrument capable of ultra-high performance LC hyphenated with an electrospray Orbitrap mass spectrometer (UHPLC–ESI-OrbitrapMS). The stability of antioxidants and FAME in different samples was then investigated. Total FAME C18 content decreased to 52 ± 4% w/w after 1 week, and 29 ± 6% w/w after 8 weeks in the test sample without antioxidants; FAME content and antioxidant composition were stable in the samples with antioxidants added, even after 8 weeks exposure to sunlight.

A simple sample preparation method based on a modified liquid-phase extraction approach to extract selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products from freshwater organisms is described. Extracted samples were analysed using liquid chromatography with Q-Exactive plus hybrid quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry, using 2.6 μm C18 media. A 0.1% v/v acetic acid/acetonitrile mobile phase was applied over a 20 min gradient. Method detection limits in full scan mode were ca. 0.04-2.38 ng of analyte per g of sample. Linearity ranged from 0.9750 to 0.9996 over the calibration range of 0.01-100 μg/L; MS mass accuracy was

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T16:01:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-09-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Embrapa Cafe Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Cafestol and kahweol (C&K), two coffee diterpene alcohols with structural similarity which exhibit anticarcinogenic effects, were isolated from green coffee Arabica beans, followed by their lipase-catalysed esterification and purification by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The isolation and enzymatic synthesis parameters of C&K esters were studied, with the latter optimised by a Central Composite Design; both procedures were monitored by gas chromatography. Scale up and improved isolation conditions resulted in 1.29 g of C&K, with 98% purity from 300 g of green Arabica beans. The highest C&K ester yields were observed using an alcohol: fatty acid molar ratio of 1:5, 73.3 mg mL(-1) of CAL-B enzyme, 70 degrees C and 240 rpm for 3 days in toluene, leading to 85-88% conversion among a variety of tested C&K esters, including n-C-14:0-C-20:0, C-18:1, C-18:2 and C-18:3. Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Inst Quim, Lab Anal Aromas, Ave Athos da Silveira Ramos 149,Bloco A,Sala 626, BR-21941895 Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Inst Quim, LADETEC, Ave Horacio Macedo 1281, BR-21941598 Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Escola Quim, Dept Engn Bioquim, Ave Athos da Silveira Ramos,Bloco E,Sala E203, BR-21941909 Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Engn Bioproc & Biotecnol, Campus Botucatu,Rua Jose Barbosa de Barros 1780, BR-18610307 Lageado, SP, Brazil Monash Univ, Sch Chem, Australian Ctr Res Separat Sci, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Vic 3800, Australia Embrapa Agroind Alimentos, Ave Amer 29501, BR-23020470 Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Inst Quim, Lab Biocatalise & Sintese Organ, Ave Athos da Silveira Ramos 149, BR-21941895 Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Engn Bioproc & Biotecnol, Campus Botucatu,Rua Jose Barbosa de Barros 1780, BR-18610307 Lageado, SP, Brazil

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) and multidimensional GC (MDGC) offer high performance separation capability towards multi-component samples, and improved sample characterisation. Recent advances, particularly with new GC×GC methodologies, which apply additional columns to GC×GC, along with hyphenation with mass spectrometry, potentially have a tremendous impact on the analysis of various applications such as food, petrochemicals, fragrances, drugs and environmental samples. The present review highlights the new experimental designs in GC×GC coupled with MDGC to offer significant changes in operational performance, and applications of these technologies which have been developed since 2000.

Heart-cut multidimensional gas chromatographic (H/C MDGC) methods under suitable flow and high temperature (T) program conditions were developed to separate olive oil triacylglycerols (TAGs). Different column sets were selected for further evaluation, each with relatively short non-polar first dimension (1D) and mid-polar second dimension (2D) columns of high T limits (350 °C). The 1D separation displayed three major groups of peaks in an area ratio of approximately 5:33:62 (of increasing retention), using flame ionisation detection (FID). Four groups of minor peaks, with 2 of them located between the major peaks, were also detected. The H/C fractions of the minor peaks, and sub-sampled regions across the major peaks eluting from the 1D outlet, were cryotrapped at the 2D inlet. The trapped TAGs then underwent temperature programmed 2D separation. Each of the ‘H/C’ zones generally gave 2–5 – and in some cases more – separated peaks of TAGs on the 2D column, under suitable flow condition and phase polarity that resulted in improved separation. Six sub-sampled H/Cs from various regions of the individual peaks from the 1D column were simultaneously trapped and released to 2D, resulting in apparently more than 22 individual TAG peaks. According to their different retention times, different TAGs were revealed within each of the 3 major groups, using H/C sub-sampling. A comprehensive sampling strategy that covers most of the 1D peaks further revealed the presence of more TAGs in the olive oil sample. This tandem column strategy was able to resolve more components than that usually observed on a single column.

Real-time interconversion processes produce unconventional peak broadening in gas chromatography (GC), and can be used to generate kinetic and thermodynamic data. In this study, an unusual separation situation in comprehensive two dimensional GC where two dimensional interconversion (i.e. a raised plateau in both first and second dimension, 1D and 2D) was observed in analysis of oxime isomers. This resulted in a characteristic and unusual rectangular peak shape in the two dimensional result. A related theoretical approach was introduced to explain the peak shape supported by simulation results which can be varied depending on concentration profiles and kinetics of the process. The simulated results were supported by experimental results obtained by a comprehensive heart-cut multidimensional GC (H/C MDGC) approach which was developed to clearly investigate isomerisation of E/Z oxime molecules in both 1D and 2D separations under different isothermal conditions. The carrier gas flow and oven temperature were selected according to initial results for 1D interconversion on a poly(ethyleneglycol) stationary phase, which was further used in both 1D and 2D separations to result in broad zones of oxime interconversion in both dimensions. The method involved repetitive injections of oxime sample, then sampling contiguous fractions of sample into a long 2D column which is intended to promote considerable interconversion. Comprehensiveness arises from the fact that the whole sample is sampled from the 1D to the 2D column, with the long 2D column replacing the short 2D column used in classical comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, where the latter will not promote sufficient interconversion. Data processing and presentation permits a 'rectangular' distribution corresponding to the separated compounds, characteristic of this experiment.

Molecular spectroscopic detection plays a crucial role in gas chromatography (GC). Some detectors constitute element-selective spectroscopy, where an element-containing species generates the detected signal, e.g. flame photometric detection (S, P, Cu); chemiluminescence detection (S, N). These respond with selective response, usually with excellent analyte detectability and reduced matrix interferences. Classical molecular spectroscopic detectors – Fourier transform infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultraviolet – respond by giving a spectrum characteristic of the (intact) molecule. Molecular structure response plays multi-faceted roles: it produces a unique spectrum of a molecule, provided it is resolved by the column and presented to the detector as a single compound; or the chromatogram can be generated by responding to the total signal, or selectively to a given component of the signal. This review summarises the response, sensitivities, applicability, and recent literature reports of molecular spectroscopic detection. Hyphenation with dual detection and brief comments on multidimensional GC is included.

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with quadrupole accurate mass time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-Q-TOFMS) is employed to profile Humulus lupulus L. (hop) essential oils. Comparison of characterised essential oils allows discrimination among chemotypes. Experimental and commercial hop genotypes displayed distinguishable chemotypic patterns among the volatile secondary metabolites making up their essential oils. In total, 210–306 unique compounds were detected (depending on specific genotype), with 99 of these compounds either positively or tentatively identified. Identified volatile secondary metabolites were grouped into esters, monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes and ketones. Terpenoids were the dominant chemical families across all hop genotypes analysed, representing between 67% and 90% of the total ion count. The multidimensional chromatographic profiles of hop essential oils are extremely information-rich, making GC × GC-Q-TOFMS useful for fast screening of new hybrid hop genotypes, and therefore informing breeding strategies to derive new commercial hop cultivars for the development of distinctive and desirable beers.

A pressure tunable (PT) coupled column ensemble has been implemented for the second dimension (2D) separation in comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography (GC×PTGC). This process requires two columns to be connected by a pressure junction, as a replacement for a single narrow bore, short column in 2D. Various 2D1 and 2D2 columns may be selected to provide complementary selectivity (polarity) compared to the 1D column. The tunable residence time arising from differential pressure drop in each 2D column results in a tunable fractional contribution of each column in the 2D separation. A sample mixture comprising different chemical classes, including alkanes and alcohols, is used to identify the feasibility and extent of selectivity tuning possible in GC×PTGC. The column length is also varied due to the imposed challenge of wraparound in the PT coupled column system as pressures are adjusted in the 2D separation. Different experimental parameters, stationary phase materials and column lengths have been applied to investigate and understand the separation behaviour of the 2D PT coupled column GC×GC system. Results are discussed considering analyte retention time, peak width, linear velocity and the contribution of each 2D column. A specific and unexpected example of GC×GC separation was demonstrated where the peak positions of polar and apolar compounds could almost swap their 2D retention position by application of PT. Kerosene was analysed as an example of complex sample analysis by GC×PTGC system. This process is shown to be a practical approach for altering different stationary phase selectivities in a single 2D arrangement in GC×GC.