A microfabricated comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography system

Abstract

This paper reports a thermally-modulated comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography system. A static stationary-phase coating process using non-polar polydimethlsiloxane (PDMS) and polar polytriluoropropylmethylsiloxane (PTFPMS) produced a resolution of 14,425 and 5,800 theoretical plates, respectively, using an air carrier in 3m columns. With a meso-scale thermal modulator between a 3m-long PDMS-coated first-column and a 0.25m-long PTFPMS-coated second column and working from-25°C to 200°C with 100ms peak widths, a 10-component mixture of alkanes and ketones was separated. Replacing the meso-scale modulator with a microfabricated device operating between-30°C and 250°C (with heating/cooling rates of 3000°C/s and-570°C/s), heptane and 2-hexanone were separated with a 7s modulation period. They would co-elute from a one-dimensional system.