The main success of the application of Gas Chromatography in quantitative analysis is firstly due to the very high efficacies of separation power, secondly to the extreme sensitivity of the detection of small amounts of separated species and finally to the precision and accurateness of the data from quantitative analyses of very complex mixtures.
Gas Chromatography machine analyses are also easy to automate from sample introduction to separation. Because of the main advantages and its short analysis time and reliable results GC is used as quality control purposes in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, the pharmaceutical analysis generally involves two steps; separation of the compound of interest and quantitation of the compounds. The better the separation, the easier the quantitation. Gas Chromatography detectors have different responses to each compound. In order to determine quantitative amounts of various compounds in a separation, the detector must be calibrated using standards.
Standard solutions of the sample are injected and the detector response recorded. A comparison of the standard and sample retention times allows the qualitative analysis of the sample. A comparison of the peak area of the standards with that of the sample allows the quantitation of analyte. By reason of this fact, Gas Chromatography software is widely used as a routine analytical technique in pharmaceutical quantitative analysis mostly used in for the determination of organic volatile impurities and nicotine levels during drug formulation.
Now let us know the applications of GC…
Gas Chromatography equipment or instrument development in the early to mid-1950s, GC has found applications in a host of industrial, environmental, pharmaceutical and biotechnology analytical laboratories.
Recent Custom Gas Chromatography techniques are able to sample from a wide variety of matrices, including solids, liquids, and permanent gases.
Though, specially designed GC application columns are able to analyze relatively nonvolatile substances and Cool-on-Column injection techniques allow the sampling of moderately thermally labile materials.
Purge and trap and headspace auto sampling techniques are now well established and are able to desorb or extract samples collected in the most inhospitable of environments, such as the emission stacks of industrial plants.
The technology of the Gas Chromatography detector is able to detect very small amounts of pesticides for example, from environmental samples and GC-MS techniques allow structural elucidation of even the most complex analytes.
Pharmaceutical
In the pharmaceutical industry, Gas Chromatography is used to analyze residual solvents in both raw materials (drug substance) and finished products (drug product). Biopharmaceutical applications include urine drug screens for barbiturates and underivatized drugs and for ethylene oxide in sterilized products such as sutures.
Food/Flavors/Fragrances
The food, flavors, or fragrances industry uses custom GC for a wide variety of applications including quality testing and solvents testing. The Fragrances and Flavors industries use GC for quality testing and fingerprinting of fragrances for characterization.
Petrochemical
Custom Gas Chromatographyapplications include natural gas analysis or refineries, gasoline characterization, and fraction quantitation, aromatics in benzene, etc. The applications of Geochemical include mapping of oil reserves and tracing of reservoirs etc.
Chemical/Industrial
Chemical uses include the determination of product content, monitoring production processes, determination of purity, etc. GCs are used to detect amines, esters, organic acids, alcohols, and solvents.
Environmental
The environmental GC applications include the detection of pollutants such as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, purge-able aromatics, etc. Industrial or chemical environmental protection applications include stack and waste emissions as well as water discharges.
The Final Take
The main benefits and its short analysis time and reliable results GC is used as quality control purposes in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, the pharmaceutical analysis generally involves two steps; separation of the compound of interest and quantitation of the compounds. And many other applications we have shared in this blog.