title: Back-flushing and heart cut capillary gas chromatography using planar microfluidic Deans' switching for the separation of benzene and alkylbenzenes in industrial samples.
abstract: Planar microfluidic devices coupled with modern electronic pressure control have allowed gas chromatography (GC) practitioners to easily manipulate chromatographic systems to achieve heart cut and back-flushing configurations. These planar microfluidic devices have enhanced the connectivity between different components of GC instrumentation and have improved the inertness and minimised system dead volumes compared to classical chromatographic unions and valves. In the present contribution the setup and configuration of two multidimensional GC (MDGC) platforms is described for achieving the separation and quantification of trace level target C6-C8 alkylbenzenes in styrene monomer and Isoparaffin™ solvents, using flame ionisation detection (FID). The performance of these MDGC platforms indicated excellent retention time (0.2% relative standard deviation, RSD) and peak area repeatability (1% RSD) for all analytes of interest. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.8 mg kg(-1) for benzene in styrene monomer, and 2.4-2.8 mg kg(-1) for C6-C8 alkylbenzenes such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene in Isoparaffin™ solvent.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, 7005 Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, 7005 Tasmania, Australia; DOW Chemical Canada ULC, Western Canada Operations, P.O. Bag 16, Highway 15, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta T8L 2P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Ronda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gras
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, 7005 Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Pavel N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Nesterenko
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, 7005 Tasmania, Australia; DOW Chemical Canada ULC, Western Canada Operations, P.O. Bag 16, Highway 15, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta T8L 2P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luong
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, 7005 Tasmania, Australia. Electronic address: Robert.Shellie@utas.edu.au.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Shellie
mesh_terms: D001555:Benzene Derivatives / Q000032:analysis*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods; D005410:Flame Ionization; D057230:Limit of Detection; D044085:Microfluidics; D012997:Solvents; D020058:Styrene / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001555:Benzene Derivatives; D012997:Solvents; D020058:Styrene
keywords: Alkylbenzenes; Back-flush; Benzene; Gas chromatography; Heart cut; Multidimensional