title: Preparative gas chromatography and its applications.
abstract: Although hundreds of papers related to preparative gas chromatography (pGC) have been published since the late 1950s, the success of the GC technique has largely been associated with analytical instead of preparative purposes. Actually, pGC is an ideal alternative technique for the preparation of pure substances, especially volatile compounds. This paper reviews the papers (written in English) associated with pGC published over the period from the 1950s to the 2010s. For large scale preparation, large sample injection and vaporization, a high loading capacity column, a gas splitter at the end of the column and a special collecting device are fundamentally important for a pGC system. The primary components of pGC system, including injector, column, splitter, detector and collection traps, are briefly introduced. Furthermore, the applications of pGC in the separation and purification of volatile compounds from natural essential oils, in addition to the purification of isotopes, isomers and enantiomers are summarized.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.forename: Feng-Qing
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhi-Ning
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000266:history / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D007554:Isotopes / Q000737:chemistry*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007554:Isotopes; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds