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Gas Chromatography

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Nielsen's Food Analysis

Part of the book series: Food Science Text Series ((FSTS))

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Abstract

Gas chromatography (GC) has been used for the determination of a wide range of food components, but it is ideally suited for the analysis of thermally stable volatile substances. The outstanding resolving properties of GC and the wide variety of detectors contribute to the sensitivity or selectivity in analysis. This chapter discusses details of GC sample preparation, hardware, columns, and chromatographic theory as it is uniquely applied to GC. Sample preparation generally involves the isolation of solutes from foods, which may be accomplished by headspace analysis, distillation, preparative chromatography, or extraction. Some analytes can then be directly analyzed, while others must be derivatized prior to analysis to increase volatility or temperature stability. The GC consists of a gas supply and regulators (pressure and flow control), injection port, column and column oven, detector, electronics, and a data recording and processing system. The analyst must be knowledgeable about the characteristics of each of these GC components and understand basic chromatographic theory to balance the properties of resolution, capacity, speed, and sensitivity. New GC developments and applications will likely be related to multidimensional GC.

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Acknowledgments

The authors of this chapter thank Devin G. Peterson (Department of Food Science and Technology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA) for his contributions to the chapter in previous editions of the book.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Gary A. Reineccius

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Michael C. Qian

Authors
  1. Gary A. Reineccius
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  2. Michael C. Qian
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Correspondence to Gary A. Reineccius .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    B. Pam Ismail

  2. Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    S. Suzanne Nielsen

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Reineccius, G.A., Qian, M.C. (2024). Gas Chromatography. In: Ismail, B.P., Nielsen, S.S. (eds) Nielsen's Food Analysis. Food Science Text Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50643-7_14

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