Selective responses of a flameless thermionic detector

Detector technologies for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

The detector is an integral and important part of any chromatographic system. The chromatographic peak profiles (i.e. peak separation) should, ideally, be unaffected by the detector--it should only provide the sensing capacity required at the end of a column separation process. The relatively new technique of comprehensive 2-D GC (GC x GC) extends the performance of GC manyfold, but comes at a price--existing GC systems may not be adequately designed with the requirements of GC x GC in mind. This is primarily the need for precise measurement of very fast peaks entering the detector (e.g. as fast as 50 ms basewidth in some instances). The capacity of the detector to closely track a rapidly changing chromatographic peak profile depends on a number of factors, such as design of flow paths and make-up gas introduction, type of detector response mechanism, and the chemistry of the response. These factors are discussed here as a means to appreciate the technical demands of detection in GC x GC. The MS detector will not be included in this review.

Response mechanisms of thermionic detectors with enhanced nitrogen selectivity

The response mechanisms of a thermionic detector with enhanced nitrogen selectivity operating in an inert gas environment were investigated. According to accepted theory, the analyte has to contain electronegative functional groups in order for negative ions to be formed by the extraction of electrons from the thermionic source. This leads to a selective detector response for compounds containing nitro groups or multiple halogens. However, in the tests described here, polycyclic aromatic nitrogen hydrocarbons (PANHs), acridines, and carbazoles were used as reference substances. These compounds contain no electronegative functional groups. None of the investigated acridines exhibited any response from the detector, but carbazoles generated a strong structure-related detector response. By examining partial charges for all hydrogens of all individual carbazoles and acridine, it was demonstrated that the acidic hydrogen atom attached to the nitrogen heteroatom of the carbazoles has a strong influence on the detector response. Ionization of carbazoles may occur by dissociation of the nitrogen-hydrogen bond during contact with the thermionic surface. Support for this theory was provided by the linear relationship between the relative detector response and the deprotonization energy of the carbazoles (coefficients of determination of 0.90 and 0.98 for linear and quadratic models, respectively, were obtained). Further, there appeared to be no linear relationship between the detector response and electron affinity of the carbazoles, (R2 value, 0.32). Thus, the mechanism involved in ionization of the carbazoles is probably not direct electron transfer from the thermionic surface to the carbazoles. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the thermal conductivity of chemically inert detector gases also has an influence on the detector response. The investigated gases were helium, neon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and argon. It was found that thermal conductivity can be used to rank the detector response for the carbazoles, and there was no discernible response when helium, which has the highest thermal conductivity, was used as the detector gas.

New thermionic detector utilizing orthogonal nebulization for capillary column liquid chromatography

A new version of the previously studied phosphorus-sensitive, dual-flame thermionic detector has been developed for microcolumn liquid chromatography. The total column effluent is orthogonally nebulized and aspirated directly into a primary air-hydrogen diffusion flame. Phosphorus compounds with molecular weights extending beyond 500 a.m.u. are then selectively detected by measuring the conductivity of the secondary flame in the presence of a rubidium silicate bead. The sensitivity was found to be 1.36 X 10(-11) g phosphorus/sec at the maximum of a Gaussian peak, and the signal increased linearly with concentration over 2 orders of magnitude for dilute samples. Possible mechanisms accounting for the negative orientation of the signal and for the limited dynamic range are discussed.

Simplified method for determination of the tetracyclic antidepressant mianserin in human plasma using gas chromatography with nitrogen detection

A simplified gas chromatographic method for determination of the antidepressant drug mianserin in human plasma is described. Application of a nitrogen-sensitive detector reduces the assay procedure to extraction, concentration and gas chromatographic determination. The method is suitable to determine mianserin in human plasma at the 1 ng/ml level on a routine basis. At the 20 ng/ml level the deviation of the mean from the true value and the relative standard deviation amount to 1.0% and 6.8%, respectively.