Elsevier

Analytica Chimica Acta

Volume 803, 25 November 2013, Pages 2-14
Analytica Chimica Acta

Review
Applications of resistive heating in gas chromatography: A review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2013.04.063Get rights and content

Highlights

  • This article critically analyses the developments in resistively heated gas chromatography.

  • The advantages and disadvantages of different resistive heating technologies are assessed.

  • The applications of resistively heated gas chromatography are thoroughly reviewed.

  • The considerations and challenges for the application of resistive heating are critically evaluated.

Abstract

Gas chromatography is widely applied to separate, identify, and quantify components of samples in a timely manner. Increasing demand for analytical throughput, instrument portability, environmental sustainability, and more economical analysis necessitates the development of new gas chromatography instrumentation. The applications of resistive column heating technologies have been espoused for nearly thirty years and resistively heated gas chromatography has been commercially available for the last ten years. Despite this lengthy period of existence, resistively heated gas chromatography has not been universally adopted. This low rate of adoption may be partially ascribed to the saturation of the market with older convection oven technology, coupled with other analytical challenges such as sampling, injection, detection and data processing occupying research. This article assesses the advantages and applications of resistive heating in gas chromatography and discusses practical considerations associated with adoption of this technology.

Section snippets

Scope and aims of this review

There have been two recent reviews focusing on resistive heating in gas chromatography (GC). Wang et al. provided an excellent overview of the differences between convection oven heating and resistive heating, the authors document the development and application of different embodiments of resistively heated GC, and outline the pros and cons of each resistive heating strategy [1]. Smith reviewed resistively heated GC, focusing on person-portable GC, micromachined chip GC, and portable GC–MS [2]

Resistively heated gas chromatography

The technical challenges of resistively heating a capillary column are significant compared to convection oven heating. As a result, a single best technology for resistive heating in GC is yet to be determined, despite a large amount of research having been performed to optimise such technologies. There are a myriad of approaches available for the construction of resistively heated capillary columns of which there are three broad classes (as identified in reference [1]):

  • 1.

    Direct resistive

Environmental analysis

Resistively heated GC has been applied to shorten the analysis time of important semi-volatile analyses such as that of pesticide residues [6], [8], [22], [60], [61], [62], [63], [64]. Sasamoto et al. performed an analysis of 82 pesticides present in spiked green tea extracts using two resistively heated collinear columns in parallel to allow analyte confirmation via differential retention times on two stationary phases (DB-5 and DB-17) [11]. Despite the fact that some pesticides were co-eluted

Conclusion

Resistive heating in GC represents a paradigm shift and seems a logical direction for the future of GC analysis once a small selection of limitations are addressed. One issue with the migrating to the fast temperature programming offered by resistive heating is that of method validation. One of the attractive features of convection oven GC is that the methodology to achieve many separations is already in place and standardised between laboratories. For resistively heated GC to become widely

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Project funding scheme (project number DP110104923). Robert Shellie is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Australian Research Fellowship (project number DP110104923). Emily Hilder is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT0990512).

Matthew R. Jacobs is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania working at the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS). His research focus involves the application of resistive heating towards fast temperature programmed gas chromatography and portable multidimensional GC analysis.

References (100)

  • A. Wang et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • P.A. Smith

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • K. Sasamoto et al.

    Talanta

    (2007)
  • F. Xu et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2008)
  • S.D. Stearns et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2010)
  • T.I. Dearing et al.

    Talanta

    (2011)
  • J.S. Nadeau et al.

    Talanta

    (2010)
  • K.M. Pierce et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • C. Bicchi et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2005)
  • L.M. Blumberg et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2001)
  • J.J. van Deemter et al.

    Chem. Eng. Sci.

    (1956)
  • V.R. Reid et al.

    Talanta

    (2009)
  • S. Zampolli et al.

    Sens. Actuators B

    (2009)
  • J. Luong et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • A.C. Lewis et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2010)
  • R.P. Erickson et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2006)
  • L.M. Blumberg et al.

    J. Chromatogr.

    (1992)
  • V.R. Reid et al.

    Talanta

    (2008)
  • R.B. Wilson et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2011)
  • V.R. Reid et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2007)
  • H.L. Lord et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2010)
  • M. Kirchner et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2005)
  • T.C. Hayward et al.

    Talanta

    (2007)
  • R.A. Miller et al.

    Sens. Actuators B

    (2000)
  • G.A. Eiceman et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2001)
  • T.C. Hayward et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2008)
  • K. Mastovska et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2001)
  • K. Patel et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2004)
  • A.B. Fialkov et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2011)
  • P.A. Smith et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2004)
  • J.P. Dworzanski et al.

    J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis

    (2005)
  • C. Bicchi et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2004)
  • S. Heuskin et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2009)
  • A.R. Raghani

    J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal.

    (2002)
  • J.A. Contreras et al.

    J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom.

    (2008)
  • J.M.R. Belanger et al.

    J. Hazard. Mater.

    (2007)
  • B.A. Eckenrode

    J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom.

    (2001)
  • P.A. Smith et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2005)
  • P.A. Smith et al.

    Anal. Chim. Acta

    (2011)
  • K. Sasamoto et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2010)
  • N. Ochiai et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2011)
  • C. Devos et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • G.I. Ball et al.

    J. Chromatogr. A

    (2012)
  • M.E. Hail et al.

    Anal. Chem.

    (1989)
  • E.U. Ehrmann et al.

    J. Chromatogr. Sci.

    (1996)
  • M. van Deursen et al.

    J. High Resolut. Chromatogr.

    (1999)
  • J. Dalluge et al.

    J. High Resolut. Chromatogr.

    (1999)
  • T.A. Williams et al.

    J. Chromatogr. Sci.

    (1999)
  • K.M. Sloan et al.

    Field Anal. Chem. Technol.

    (2001)
  • J. Luong et al.

    J. Chromatogr. Sci.

    (2006)
  • Cited by (0)

    Matthew R. Jacobs is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania working at the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS). His research focus involves the application of resistive heating towards fast temperature programmed gas chromatography and portable multidimensional GC analysis.

    Emily F. Hilder is Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) and School of Chemistry at the University of Tasmania. Her research focuses on the design and application of new polymeric materials, in particular polymer monoliths, in all areas of separation science. She is also interested in the development of miniaturised analytical systems, particularly for applications in clinical diagnostics and remote monitoring. She has over 85 peer-reviewed publications and was recently recognised as the LCGC Emerging Leader in Chromatography (2012). She is also an Editor of Journal of Separation Science.

    Robert A. Shellie is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council Australian Research Fellow at University of Tasmania, where he is a key researcher in the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS). He has a substantial interest in hyphenated techniques in chromatography, and is currently working on development and application of field-portable multidimensional GC instrumentation employing resistive heating.

    View full text